Help Me, Please
by Sarcastic-Bones
Summary: Rose is entering her Seventh Year at Hogwarts, and, just when she thought things were finally going smoothly, Scorpius Malfoy has to go and ruin it by becoming Head Boy. And that just complicated EVERYTHING.  T to be safe
1. The Return to Hogwarts

**So I posted this on another site a while ago, it's still on going and I'm currently coming up with new ideas to expand the ending to longer than originally intended. Basically, after using it a lot more recently, I figured it would be nice to post my main fic on this site too**.** I hope you like it. I wrote this chapter a long while ago, so I hope it's good!**

**Also, please be aware that this story is uploaded on this site in French by a lovely author who took the time to translate it for me.  
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><p>I rolled over in my bed, utterly content with how my life was. I could hear the birds singing outside which meant that it was somewhere around half past nine in the morning. I could sense the sun was shining brightly through the large window in my room, despite that I had my eye lids shut.<p>

I loved the holidays. Never _having_ to get up and out of my warm bed, never having to do any homework, never having to worry whether I'll miss my slot in the bathroom – Dominique always took forever fixing her hair at school. That was why I loved my room, it was mine. I could lay here forever, in bed, the sun warming my skin, the birds singing, the peacefulness that I felt was greatly appreciated. Nothing could ruin this.

"ROSE WEASELY! Hurry up and get out of bed," I heard someone yell from downstairs.

I mumbled a response; wanting to show that I had made an effort to reply but not really bothering in the slightest. Then I realised that the voice hadn't belonged to my brother or father. And it certainly hadn't been my mum.

Just as I was starting to think a little too much into this, the door banged open, making far too much noise, and Lily jumped onto my bed, shaking me to wake up.

"Wake up, sleepy head," she whispered, despite the noise she'd made when entering the room. And then a bit more forcefully she yelled in my ear, "HELLO! Get up or you'll not have enough time to look gorgeous before you get on the train,"

That woke me up.

Of course, today was September the first; Hogwarts. I immediately sat bolt upright and my head spun.

"Woooah," I mumbled as Lily told me, quite unnecessarily, "Too fast,"

Then my eyes focused on her and we both smiled, saying at exactly the same time, "Hogwarts,"

I changed quickly, possibly because of all the excitement I felt, and vaulted down the stairs – literally. I had to catch myself on the banister to prevent knocking Hugo over.

I did anyway.

Luckily for me I remained on my own feet so I offered him a hand to get up off the floor. He took it graciously, mumbling 'thanks' to me whilst rubbing his forehead with the other hand. Once he was standing back on his feet we both entered the kitchen which, despite having many people in it, did not feel crowded.

Mum was standing by the cooker making breakfast; dad stood behind her and was hugging her round the waist whilst she hummed to the tune that was playing quietly in the background; Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny sat across from each other at the table, they sat at the closest end to my parents and all four were talking animatedly with each other. Lily was talking to Victoire and Teddy about their recently-announced engagement and the three were sitting at the breakfast bar at the end of the room that was still only two or three metres from where Aunt Ginny sat; the others, Albus and James, sat at the table - Albus next to Uncle Harry and James next to Albus.

As we entered the kitchen we were greeted by many 'hello's' and 'good mornings', then the previous conversations resumed. Mum, however, had turned to glance briefly at us as we entered and had noticed the newly growing bump on Hugo's forehead.

She stepped out of my dad's arms and placed a hand on his head, feeling his temperature and starting to fuss.

"Are you feeling OK, Hugh?"

"'m fine, mum," he replied patiently.

That's one of the things that I loved about Hugo – he was so calm and collected and laid-back but mostly it was that he was so _patient_. I don't know where he gets it from. Both my parents are known for easily losing their temper, as well as Aunt Ginny. He probably got it from Uncle Harry.

"Are you sure?" my mum persisted. "Not feeling faint? Dizzy? Sick?"

"Mum, I'm honestly fine. It's just a small bump, you know how Rose is. Nothing to worry about," he told her again, still as calm as ever.

"But—, " My mum started but was interrupted by my dad, who pulled her back to the cooker saying, "He's fine, Hermione, leave the poor boy alone,"

My mum still looked concerned but turned back to finishing the breakfast, my dad with her again. It wasn't until he turned to my brother and said, "Run now, while you still have a chance," that she hit him playfully with the spoon on her hand and forgot about being overly-concerned.

Hugo and I took a seat at the table. I sat next to Aunt Ginny and opposite Albus and Hugo sat in the last remaining chair next to me and opposite James. Mum served breakfast and her and dad sat at the breakfast bar next to Lily. Hugo finished first and went upstairs to pack. A few minutes later he came down the stairs with his hands in his pockets and looking slightly afraid.

"What's wrong, Hugh?" I asked, slightly concerned for his mental health.

"Ermm, mum, please don't kill me..." he said slowly and my mum looked up from her conversation with Lily to see my brother and immediately she said, "What did you do?"

"I... I lost my prefects badge," he mumbled.

"Hugo Weasley! You better not have said what I thought you just said," my mum threatened him.

"I'm sorry," he told her, his words rushing out quickly while he still had a chance to speak. "I can't remember where I put it. I _swear_ it was on top of my Hogwarts cloak,"

"We better go look for it then," my mum announced and got up. She walked towards the door and then, as she drew level with James, stopped and turned to face him. "Say, James, you haven't seen it by any chance?"

"No, sorry, Aunt Hermione, haven't seen it _at all_," he told her, a little too innocently. We all knew that James liked to pull pranks. Something we were all sure he got from Uncle George.

"Oh, really... because if you had and you were lying to me I'd have to tell your mum about all those Weasley Wizard Wheezes fireworks in your room,"

James' face paled and he turned quickly to his mum, not doubt hoping she hadn't heard. But of course she had.

"James Sirius Potter, you better give back that prefects badge right _now_," Aunt Ginny said to him in a calm voice which definitely scared us all more than she would have if she had shouted at him. "And take out those fireworks and bring them to me. Now," she added.

James, looking defeated, reluctantly handed Hugo's prefects badge to him and walked out of the door. A minute later we heard a noise that we all knew to be the fireplace and James flooing back to his home.

"Speaking of which," my mum said to me. "Have you finished packing yet, Rose?"

"Umm... when you say 'finished'..." I asked.

"Don't worry, she's finished," Lily said and I took that to mean that she had packed for me. I mouthed 'thank you' back to her and my mum gave me a look that clearly meant she knew I hadn't packed at all and that I should be grateful that Lily had done it all for me. I smiled at her to show that I was innocent, almost as if I had no idea what she meant.

"I can't believe Hugo's a prefect anyway," James grumbled as he entered the kitchen and handed the fireworks over to Aunt Ginny who made them disappear with a flick of her wand.

"I can't believe Lily's a prefect," I said.

"And I can't believe you made Head Girl," she countered.

"Ah, true," I agreed and smiled at her.

"Anyway, I can't wait for rounds," Lily announced. "I love my Prefect partner,"

"Thanks Lily," Hugo said, slightly confused.

"You know she's just going to use you so that she can date your friends," I told him.

"Lily, no dating," Uncle Harry said quickly, turning to his daughter.

"Yes, dad," she said sweetly and when he turned around her and her mum exchanged a look that clearly said 'boys have no idea'. I rolled my eyes.

"Ouch, Louis," I yelled over the noise of the whistle. "You're on my foot."

"Sorry, Rose," he said quickly and hauled his trunk onto the train before moving away to find his friends.

"Rosie," I heard someone calling my name and Hugo appeared from the smoke. "Mum and dad want to say goodbye."

"Coming," I told him and finished putting my trunk with Louis'.

I made my way back to where my parents were and I gave them each a hug.

"Congratulations, Rosie, you're going to make a great Head Girl," my mother told me before turning to give Hugo a hug.

"Don't be too strict with them," my father added.

"Have fun this year you two and no arguing," my mum said again, placing Hugo next to me so that she could look at us both together.

"You're such a hypocrite, Hermione," Aunt Ginny spoke before I could even see her, but then she appeared through the smoke.

"What do you mean?" Mum asked as Uncle Harry, Lily and Albus appeared.

"Oh yeah, because you and Ron _never_ argued," Uncle Harry said sarcastically.

"That's completely different," Mum defended.

"Actually, it is," Aunt Ginny told my Uncle. "They argued because they were sexually attracted to each other."

I looked at Hugo. "And that's our cue to leave," I told them and I jumped onto the train with Hugo behind me.

As Lily, Hugo, Albus and I turned and waved I heard Uncle Harry and my dad shout to Lily and I at exactly the same time, "No boys," Some of the parents nearby laughed and the train turned a corner and my parents disappeared from view.

"Yeah, right," Lily said and we both shook our heads. Our dads were clueless.

Well, Uncle Harry was slightly. Lily _always_ had a boyfriend or at least had her eye on someone. Me? Not so much. A total of three boys had shown a slight interest in me but that was in my third year and I had gotten over it. I didn't care for boys.

Albus left us to go in search of Scorpius and Hugo, Lily and I headed in the opposite direction down the train. We soon found our compartment near the end of the train. It was mostly full of our relatives and was, therefore, extremely noisy. We slid the door back and entered the compartment.

Dominique was playing a game of exploding snap with her brother Louis, and, by the looks of it, she was winning. Again. Molly, her sister Lucy, and Roxanne were gossiping in the far left hand corner and Fred was using his wand to poke Lorcan Scamander whilst he read the quibbler. Lysander, Lorcan's twin brother, sat against the window and stared out dreamily.

Both of the Scamander twins were quite weird, much like their mother apparently, but, I had to admit, were very good looking. They both had dark blonde hair that was relatively long. Lorcan's hair was just long enough to reach his green eyes and Lysander's was long enough to put into a small ponytail and he also had green eyes.

Among these people there was also my best friend Angela Davis, a pretty girl with long, dark black hair and blue eyes. She smiled at me over her book and moved over so that I could sit next to her. Hugo's best friends, Chris and Tom, were also there and he went and sat between them. Chris' parents were Cho Chang and Michael Delia, a muggle. Tom's parents were both muggles with the last name Barrow. They immediately started up a conversation about their summer holidays and I did the same with Angela.

"How were your holidays, Angie?" I asked.

"Amazing," she told me and then put her book down to talk. "Africa was amazing. We spent two whole weeks on a safari and we saw loads of animals. And the weather was so nice, Rose. And the boys were _so_ hot."

I laughed. "Beautiful Africa countryside and all you see are the boys," I told her. "Typical Angela,"

"Well I know what you'd say if you were there."

"What's that?" I asked.

"You'd say nothing about the boys," she told me jokingly. "Honestly, Rose, I swear you're bottling up your hormones."

_Here we go again,_ I thought. Angie was very concerned with my lack of boyfriends and even more so with my lack of interest in boys. I think she thought it was unnatural. But then, I thought it was unnatural for her to not like Quidditch, so, by my count, we were equally weird and therefore made a pair.

"You won't notice them until some poor unsuspecting boy gets jumped by you,"

"Sounds fun," came a voice from the doorway just as it was pulled open again. "Who's Rose jumping?"

Scorpius Malfoy entered the compartment and sat opposite me with Albus right behind, laughing. I turned to insult him, as was routine with us, but stopped as my voice faltered when I noticed the badge pinned to his jacket.

"No. Frickin'. Way," I muttered and then almost shouted, "You're Head Boy? You?"

"Why yes, Rose, thank you for bringing that to my attention," he replied coolly as I rummaged in my jeans pocket for my badge too. "Would you happen to know who Head Girl is? Albus won't tell me. He thinks I'll find it hilarious and I was just wondering if one of you lovely ladies would—"

Scorpius stopped talking the moment I showed him my Head Girl badge. There was a moment of silence in the whole compartment where everyone turned to watch. Then Scorpius started to laugh.

"Great," I said sarcastically. "Thanks, Scorpius. Real... confidence-building."

"I'm sorry," he said between laughs. "It's just funny. I mean, it was obviously going to be us anyway, McGonagall hates us. She's obviously trying to ruin our lives by putting us together,"

"No," I told him angrily as I pinned the badge to my jumper. "McGonagall hates you. She thinks I'm brilliant because I always get full marks in her tests,"

"You always get full marks in _every_ test," he told me.

"And you don't," I spat back at him.

"Hey! How would you know," he asked, and it made me happy to see that I was starting to annoy him. "For the record, I get great results."

"But not brilliant, like me," I said, adding the last bit to annoy him even more.

"Well at least I can beat you at Quidditch,"

"You beat me once,"

"And I'll be beating you more this year when Slytherin win the Cup,"

I laughed, "I don't think so, Malfoy,"

"Yeah, we're going to thrash you this year," Dominique said and Albus nodded.

"We'll see," Scorpius said, looking straight at me. "Anyway, we're supposed to be at the meeting now." He stood up pulled the door open then announced to the compartment, "Prefects, meeting time,"

Hugo, Lily and I all stood up once more and I waited for them to pass me before heading to the door. Scorpius held it open for us all and then followed us down the train until we reached the prefects carriage at the front.

The meeting was very boring. Scorpius and I had to write out a timetable for rounds and each person was paired with the other prefect in their year and house. The only problem occurred when Tasha Parkinson made a huge deal about being paired with the guy from Slytherin in her year, John Zabini. Apparently they had had a messy break up before the summer. Too bad.

"But it'll affect how efficiently we do our job as prefects," Tasha argued.

I was stunned for a moment that she knew a word over seven letters but I knew I would win this argument so I countered. "It won't because you won't let it."

"Come on, Rose," she said, using my name as if we had been friends since starting Hogwarts. "Can't you help me out a little?"

"Sorry, _Tasha," _I told her, emphasizing her first name which I never called her by. "Have you seen what _I_have to do rounds with?" I indicated Scorpius who was using his wand to squash a bug and flick it towards Tamir Daley.

That shut Tasha up.

The other prefects sat in their pairs. Hugo and Lily say together, they were the fifth year prefects for Gryffindor, and next to them sat Sarah Longbottom, the daughter of Neville and Hannah Longbottom, and Jeremy Mitchell. These two were the sixth year prefects for Gryffindor.

For Slytherin, Tasha Parkinson and John Zabini were the sixth year prefects and two purebloods by the names of Elizabeth Grey and Tamir Daley were the fifth year prefects.

For Hufflepuff the fifth year prefects were called Natalie Pole and Francis Duke and the sixth year prefects were Hannah Griffin and Ben Wakefield.

And finally, the Ravenclaw fifth year prefects were called Veta Vashton and Christain Lautner and the sixth year prefects were Hazel Mansfield and Rich Everton.

Once the meeting was over we only had five minutes to change into our Hogwarts robes. Unfortunately it took me three minutes to get back to my compartment. That was slightly because of all the people who had wandered into the corridor ready to get off the train but was mainly due to Scorpius walking in front of me at such a slow pace that I was _sure_ was designed to only exist on the moon.

We arrived at the compartment and I reached forward to open the door but Scorpius stepped in front of me. The blinds were drawn in the carriage, probably because they were all finishing putting their robes on and Fred tended to mess around with everyone's clothes. It was very embarrassing if the blinds were not drawn and everyone saw you. A few years ago James had to run from one end of the train to the other in nothing but his underwear. He took it quite well though, saying that it could have been worse.

"Hey!" I exclaimed. "Don't be so rude,"

"Sorry, Rosie," he told me in a patronizing voice. "In a hurry to get changed." He tapped the watch on his wrist, "Only got two minutes."

"I know," I spoke quietly but the anger was more obvious than if I carried a sign with '_I am angry,'_ written on it and strangled him. "I have to find my robes too. Now move," I threatened.

He stepped towards me and said in such a spiteful voice that, for one strange moment, I was hurt. "Or what?"

Thankfully Lily chose that exact moment to appear from the compartment two doors down. As she closed the door to it she blew a kiss to one of the guys in the carriage and said, "That was fun. See you later, Kealy,"

Scorpius and I jumped apart; at least he stepped back quickly whilst I stayed glued to the wall. When Lily noticed us she raised an eyebrow and we both followed Scorpius into the compartment.

"Kealy _Thomas_?" I whispered incredulously at her and she smiled mischievously at me.

The Hogwarts feast was as good as it ever was and, by the time it was over and everyone had eaten as much as they could have, we all trudged up the staircase to Gryffindor Tower. I gave the portrait of the Fat Lady the password and a group of thirty or so Gryffindor's entered and went up to their dormitories.

I walked quickly over to the notice board and pinned up a copy of the prefects patrol timetable. Tomorrow was my turn, being Head Girl and Boy, Scorpius and I had to take the first slot of rounds. Great.

But apparently I couldn't escape Scorpius even when I was in my dormitory. I shared it with Angela, Dominique, Polly Heart and Niomi Daniels. All four of the other girls were already changed into their pajamas and sat in the middle of the floor wrapped up in their blankets when I entered. I immediately went to the bathroom to have a shower and get changed and when I came back I joined them on the floor.

"What are we talking about?" I asked whilst wrapping my cover over my shoulders.

"A certain blonde haired boy that Dominique has her eye on," Angela told me.

"Actually, practically all the girls in school are queuing to even get within an inch of Scorpius," Dominique said. "All I want is a taste, just one kiss to see what all the fuss is about, y'know?"

"I'll agree to that," Polly said and Angela nodded her head.

"Besides, it's hard to find a fit Quidditch player that I'm _not_ related to," Dominique told us. "Is that gross to say?"

"No, Albus is pretty fit," I told her in a joking voice but I knew that most of the girls in the school fell at his feet.

"Bit of competition here, then ladies?" Niomi asked bringing the conversation back to where it had started. "Better make sure you don't get too carried away with this boy."

"Come on, Ni, it's not as if I'll get insulted if one of you lot gets on him. I don't have any _proper_ feelings for Scorpius, just…" Dominique looked slightly lost for words.

"Attraction?" I asked and she nodded.

"What do you think, Rose?" Angela asked me. "What would you do if he wanted to snog you?"

"I'd punch him in the face," I told her and they all started to laugh. "What?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah, you and Scorpius do hate each other," they all agreed.

"Obviously," I said. "He's a selfish, arrogant, two-faced idiot who doesn't know the difference between an actual human being and a Hippogriff," I told them. "That's what I think about him."

"Why, though?" Polly asked, confused as to how someone in the school didn't fancy Malfoy.

"Well, firstly there's that whole thing with our family," I indicated Dominique to show that I meant the Weasleys and Potters in general and not just Hugo and my parents. "And the Malfoy's where we already hate each other. But I'm not that bad a person as to judge someone on their relatives so I thought I'd just see what I thought of Malfoy himself,"

"And…" Angie prompted.

"I concluded that he's an idiot," I told them.

"But a good-at-Quidditch idiot," Dominique told me and the others agreed.

I sat there for a moment and my anger started to rise. What were they talking about? Scorpius was an idiot. But, apparently, I couldn't say anything to show them his bad side. Why do people always make stupid assumptions based on what others say? I was certain that one girl must have just gone, 'Oh, Scorpius might as well be fit' and so everyone thought he was. How else could it have been? And even my own friends and family were too naïve to realize.

"I wouldn't say 'good' at Quidditch. More like… only person Slytherin could find to fill the spot of seeker,"

"Not that any of them will be any good against you, Rose," Angie told me and I smiled.

"Come on, Rose," Dominique said. "I think you're a little too biased. Scorpius is actually really good. Give him a chance and watch next time we're in a game."

"No, thank you," I told her. And she and Polly shared a look that I could only think to mean '_Typical, annoying Rose'_ and both rolled their eyes.

I could sense that my anger was dangerously close to the surface so, instead of continuing the conversation, I stood up and climbed into my bed.

"Get to sleep girls," I told them irritably, using my Head-Girl-voice. "We've got to get up early tomorrow."

They all climbed into their beds whilst I muttered, "And you're clearly delusional from lack of sleep."

I heard Angie laugh quietly before she switched off the light and we were plunged into darkness.

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><p><strong>The next chapter should be up soon. I'd LOVE to hear what you guys think, even if it's questions or advice! Thank you for reading.<strong>


	2. He Started It

**Thank you so much to those who reviewed/favourited/alerted this story. :) Here's chapter two - a bit more of a plot in this one. :)**

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><p>The next morning I stumbled down to breakfast with Lily, both of us half asleep and using the other for support down the stairs. It didn't work too well. We almost fell over twice, once was on the trick step that I, as usual, had forgotten about.<p>

When we entered the Great Hall it was not hard at all to find our friends and family, even in our state – we were both, I had to admit, a bit of a mess.

I hadn't slept well last night and kept waking up so, some time around two in the morning, I found myself sitting in front of the fire in the Gryffindor Common Room, my knees curled up to my chest and my arms holding them in place. Much to my surprise, Lily had come down the stairs and silently sat down next to me. We didn't say anything accept to ask the other why they were up in the middle of the night. I told her that I just couldn't sleep and I didn't know why, which was the truth, and Lily told me that she had a feeling that the next day would be bad, she had said that something bad always happened on the first day back to school. We had finally gone our separate ways to our dorms around half past four in the morning.

We made our way over to the mass of ginger hair in the middle of the Gryffindor table. Most of our family were in Gryffindor. Actually, I think it is only Louis who _isn't_ in Gryffindor; he's in Ravenclaw, a year below our friends Lorcan and Lysander (who are fifth years), which was how we started hanging out with them really. I mean, their mother, Luna Lovegood, she was a friend of mum and dad and Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny so we knew them already but we weren't good friends with them but because they knew Louis we started to hang around with them more and more and, eventually, came to know them in a 'good friends' way. It's kind of hard to get to know them because they are both always quite distant but, I guess mainly because there's so many of us and we all wanted to know about them, they started to talk. It wasn't like they told us secrets in their past and all about their family; we just wanted to be able to be in a room with them and not be uncomfortable and to be able to say, '_Yeah, we're friends'_.

Lily and I were greeted with more noise than I thought was fully acceptable at that time in the morning. Okay, so it _was_ only half past eight but I preferred to stay in bed until at least nine. Unfortunately, I couldn't have things my way at school - the timetable didn't revolve around my life. Speaking of which, just as I filled a glass with pumpkin juice McGonagall came round to us all and handed us our timetables. I quickly glanced at mine and immediately made an impatient noise.

"Great," I said. "Double potions with Slytherin first thing."

"I don't see what's wrong with that," Lucy answered and I caught her wink at a boy from my year sitting at the Slytherin table with John Zabini.

"Lucy!" her sister, Molly, appeared from nowhere at this exact moment. Although only one year older than Lucy, Molly was very overprotective and didn't think that her younger sister should be dating anyone 'at her age'. But apparently dating was fine for _Molly_ to do as Lily and Roxanne caught her snogging her boyfriend, Oliver Vine, instead of going to class a few times last year. Other than that, those were the only times Molly had ever missed a class, she was quite a goody-two-shoes before and after her Oliver-phase, but we all expected that, being as her dad was Percy Weasley and all. This Oliver-phase was quite good for me though because I won our bet that year to see who missed the least classes out of us - I've only ever missed nine classes in all my six years of being at Hogwarts.

You could say I was a nerd – and I wouldn't disagree with you, I got straight O's in all my OWL's – but the main reason why I didn't miss class was that I found it completely boring to do. I had no reason whatsoever to miss class in the first place so if I did I would just be sitting around doing nothing and wondering what I was missing in class. And I decided this was utterly pointless so I just didn't miss class (unless I was ill or in the hospital wing due to Quidditch injuries).

"What?" Lucy complained back at her sister, which brought me out of my daydream. "You _know_ I date, Mol, so what's the problem?"

"I just don't think that you should date at the moment. OWL's are important and you're only just starting them this year. It's extremely important, Lu. I think you should just forget about boys this year, yeah?"

Lucy looked at her sister like she had just expressed a sudden desire to join the circus and run away with the Giant Squid. Luckily we were saved from an argument, unluckily that savour came in the form of one Scorpius Malfoy.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Say, Scorpius," Lucy said and Molly looked livid. "You don't have a girlfriend at the moment..."

"No, I don't... why?" He asked, looking back and forth between Lucy and Molly and completely unsure of what was going on.

"I wouldn't even ask, Scorp," Albus told him as he arrived on the scene.

"Right, good point," Scorpius said and they both sat down at the Gryffindor table.

Albus was in Gryffindor with the rest of us. I remember when he got sorted into this house; the relief on his face was so obvious. I am the only one who he told, apart from his father, that he had asked the Sorting Hat to put him in Gryffindor, and it had. He only told me in our fourth year, but I knew how hard it must have been for him to tell anyone and I knew why he had told me. James would have just made fun of him, as would Lily, Lucy, Roxanne, and Fred. Molly and Al weren't very close and neither were Al and Louis. But what did surprise me was that he hadn't told Scorpius. I assumed then that it had been because telling Scorpius, who _was_ in Slytherin, that he didn't want to be in Slytherin would, in one sense, show that he didn't like his best friends house which would probably offend Scorpius at least a tiny bit.

I was a bit surprised to find out that Al and Scorpius had managed to become best friends when they weren't even in the same house but Scorpius sat with us all at every meal, much to my disappointment, and pretty much ignored the house difference completely, except in Quidditch, where he continued to predict Slytherin's win over Gryffindor in every Cup. It never came true. We were just too good. Okay, so there was that one time in First Year where Slytherin won the Cup but I hadn't been Seeker then and therefore there had been no one worthy of kicking his butt. I am glad to say that since Second Year, when I was appointed Seeker, we've never failed to get the Snitch in any match... Unless I'm knocked off my broom by a certain Weasley from Ravenclaw with two bludgers at once, but anyway, that's another story.

I must have still looked glum and my silence, due to the extra daydreaming I was doing this morning, probably added to the affect because when Angie joined us a few minutes later she immediately turned to me and said, "What's up, babe?"

I gave her a questioning look about the whole 'babe' thing but she didn't take it seriously as she called me a different nickname everyday, then I answered her question, handing her the timetable I stole for her. "Double potions with Slytherin first thing."

"Excellent," Al and Scorpius said at the same time, a mischievous look in their eyes whilst Angie's face showed understanding and she told me, "Never mind".

"Hey," Scorpius protested. "We're not _that_ bad."

"You _are_ that bad," I muttered and Roxanne laughed next to me.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing," I muttered again but I could tell that this just made him even more curious, and annoyed.

"Seriously, Weasley, just get your words out or don't say anything,"

"Oh yeah, Malfoy, 'cause I'm really going to change just for you," I retorted sarcastically. "Because you're that great,"

"I know I am," he told me arrogantly.

"Don't flatter yourself," I retorted curtly.

"So now you're telling people what to do,"

"I _am_ Head Girl, genius," I reminded him.

"Well, I'm Head Boy,"

"That's such a joke," I let out a laugh at this.

"Making you Head Girl was the joke, Weasley. I thoroughly deserve Head Boy,"

"You couldn't care less about being Head Boy,"

"How would you know? It could be my life's ambition," he told me and I had to laugh at that too.

"Yeah, right,"

"So now you think you know me?" He challenged and stood up.

"I don't _want_ to know you," I spat, standing also.

"Good, cause I'd rather not know you," He said and we were practically yelling at each other now.

"Both of you sit down," Dominique told us forcefully but we both remained standing, daring the other to speak. "Now!"

We did as she said, sometimes Dom could be quite scary; I reluctantly sat down again first and Scorpius followed suit.

"You're going to kill each other one day," Dominique continued, Scorpius and I kept our eyes locked, seeing who would break first and look away. I was so angry I was going to kill him as soon as I knew Dom was out of sight. "If you survive rounds tonight then I'll... I don't know what I'll do, it'll be so shocking."

"She'll kiss Ben Wakefield," Lucy said, typical of her always-thinking-about-boys mind, and Dominique gave her a glare so evil that Lucy excused herself and ran early to her next class, not before bending down to mutter in my ear, "Or maybe not," as she passed me and "If you don't, I will," when she passed Dom which made her laugh and Lucy knew she was forgiven.

"I better go after her," Lily said. "We have Herbology together." She stood up and asked, "Has anyone seen Hugo?"

We all looked around but, obviously, Hugo wasn't with us. It was easy to sometimes think someone was their when they weren't because there were so many of us. You see a mass of ginger hair, that's the Weasley clan. There were only a few of my relative that didn't have the famous Weasley red hair, one of them being Hugo, whose hair was brown like his eyes, both of which he got from our mother. I got my red hair and blue eyes from our father. The only other Weasley who didn't have red hair was Dominique – her hair was blonde like her mothers and flowed to somewhere between her shoulders and elbows (her sister Victoire also had blonde hair). Then there was Albus and James who both had black hair, but they were Potters so it didn't really count. Of course Lily had red hair because she was a clone of her mother (right down to the eyes).

I felt a bit guilty that I hadn't even realised that my own brother had been missing until someone else had pointed it out. Once everyone declared that they hadn't seen Hugo, Lily left and I returned to finishing my breakfast like the others. We'd see him later and all demand to know why he wasn't eating breakfast with his charming family.

"Quidditch tryouts are Saturday at ten," Al told us all. "Everyone already in the team _must_ be down at the pitch at half past nine. Everyone got that? Rose, that means you."

"I'll be there, Al," I told him impatiently. "I was late for practise once."

"I know, Rose, but this year I'm captain so you won't be late at all," he told me and I really felt like bad things would come my way if I was late for any practise.

"Don't worry," I replied, a stroke of inspiration hitting me – I'd found a full-proof way of getting Al to shut up. "Dom's in my dorm so she'll wake me up anyway, Al."

"Okay, as long as you are there," Al looked unsure and I couldn't be bothered to answer so I just nodded.

After another five minutes of chat about the recent Quidditch match between Italy and France, where Italy had won by a huge seventy points, we all got up and left for our classes. Dom, Angie, Fred, Scorpius, Al and I headed to the dungeons for potions. I didn't speak to Scorpius at all and neither did I make eye contact or try to apologize in any way. We'd forget about all that yelling in a few days and start a new argument, we always did.

We went and sat down in potions in groups of four. There were four people from Slytherin and Ravenclaw but only three from Hufflepuff and therefore five from Gryffindor (made up of Al, Dom, Angie, Fred and I) but people were not sitting in order of house. I didn't mind the Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws, in fact, I didn't mind the Slytherins either, it was just Scorpius that annoyed the hell out of me.

Fred went to sit with three girls he knew who were from Ravenclaw and Dom wandered off to sit near her latest crush, a guy from Hufflepuff and his two friends. The other three Slytherins all sat together so Scorpius, Al, Angie and I sat at the only remaining table.

The teacher, an old man by the name of Mr Slughorn, entered the room and I could already tell he had no presence whatsoever. He immediately began calling for the class to be quiet, which he did a couple of times after everyone had settled down as well, and then began writing the precise ingredients for a potion on the board including the colour the potion should be at each stage.

Afterwards he turned to the class and asked, "Any questions?" Obviously my hand shot up like lightning. "Yes, Miss, err..."

"Weasley," I told him and I thought I saw his eyes widen for a moment but I didn't have time to worry why, I just wanted to get on with the work. "I was just wondering what the name of the potion was, Professor?"

He faltered for a moment and then turned and scanned the board. "Did I not... Oh, apparently not," he mumbled to himself more than any of the students and wrote the title of the potion on the board.

I was happy and not at all surprised to see that I had already read about this potion a number of times before and could make it properly with my eyes closed if I wanted to. Not that I ever would, of course.

Professor Slughorn turned back to the class.

"Any more questions before you begin?"

Before anyone could so much as raise their hand a boy wearing a Ravenclaw tie hurried into the room and, not before hesitating and hoping for another chair, took a seat with the Slytherins where there was the only seat left empty.

"Sorry I'm late, Professor," he told the teacher and hurried to get out all his equipment whilst we all started to cut up ingredients for our potions. Professor Slughorn didn't even acknowledge that the boy had entered the room let alone spoken to him.

"So," Angie whispered to me and moved round the table so that we could talk quietly in the noisy classroom. "Start of year party tonight—"

"—they throw start of year parties now?" I asked, interrupting her.

"Yep, you know, any excuse," she replied and moved back round the table as Professor Slughorn walked past, examining our work. Then she continued, "You're going, though, right Rose?"

I hesitated - parties weren't really my thing – but Angie didn't wait for me to answer. "_Please_, Rose." She begged. "I really need you to come. What if I get crazy drunk again and need you? What if I start shouting? What if I start _singing_?"

"Okay, Okay," I told her. "I'll go,"

"Actually, Weasley," Scorpius said and I realised that he had been listening to our conversation. "I think you'll find that it's rounds tonight."

"Damn," I muttered quietly to myself. I had totally forgotten about it, and Dom had mentioned it only twenty minutes ago. "Sorry, Angie," I said, turning to her and cutting up some roots to put in my potion. "Can't go, hallways to roam, people to lecture,"

Angie sulked for a little but then resumed talking to me a while later when she wanted my help on her potion. Class finished quickly, despite it being a double period, and I was the only one to get the potion exactly right, although Scorpius had come in a close second.

I walked out of potions and down to lunch with Angie and Dom feeling happy that I had beaten Scorpius in potions. I wasn't sure why, maybe it was just because of the way he always acted better than me, like he was somehow superior and owned the place. God, it got on my nerves.

I was so engrossed in hating Scorpius that I missed what Lily was saying to me, I hadn't even realised she had joined us but I immediately knew something was wrong because she looked worried. And Lily was usually always happy, the only times I'd seen her upset was when Al and I left for Hogwarts and when she thought she'd broken my favourite pair of stilettos (I say favourite but of course I mean 'only' pair, but I suppose that could be the same thing because I really did love them).

"What's wrong?" I asked. She really did look frantic by now.

"I can't find Hugo," she told me and her face paled even more than it already had. "I've looked everywhere. He wasn't in Herbology so Uncle Neville let me out early to find him. I've been to Gryffindor Tower, including his dorm, the library, The Great Hall, the out-of-bounds passages, Ravenclaw Tower, the kitchens, the lake, Hagrids, the Hospital Wing, the Quidditch Pitch and anywhere else I could think of... he's just vanished. He's nowhere,"

Lily was practically crying now, something that I had _never_ seen her do before in all the fifteen years I had known her.

"Rose?" Dom asked whilst Angie comforted Lily. "Rosie, are you ok? Rose?" she asked and the next thing I knew, her voice was getting fainter and everything was getting dimmer.

Then it all went black.

That _couldn't_ be good.

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><p><strong>It's been a long while since I wrote this so when I looked just now I was geniunely surprised - I forgot I wrote the ending into it! That's not good, right? Anyhoo, I remember now, so I hope you like it. I'd love reviews? But thank you for reading anyway. :)<strong>


	3. Oh, The Fun of Rounds

**Thank you so much to everyone who is reading and reviewing this story. :) Here's chapter 3, just for you.**

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><p>The first thing I <em>knew, <em>as in was completely sure about, was that there was not much noise around me. The second thing was that something warm was next to my face.

What was the last thing I remembered? Okay, so I was in potions and Angie and I were talking about something. Parties, yes that was it. Then what?

Although it had only been around four seconds since I had regained consciousness, I was definitely more confused than I had ever been by now. Why couldn't I remember much?

Slowly my memory came back and I could remember bits of what had been going through my mind. I had felt pleased at beating Scorpius; I definitely remember that.

I opened my eyes to discover that my vision was blocked by white. Now that couldn't be good either.

"What..." I started but my throat was dry and I couldn't get my words out. I coughed. "What's going on?"

"Oh, Rose," I heard Lily say from my right. "I'm so sorry."

"About what?" I asked, rubbing my forehead, but silence followed this. Not exactly the type of answer I had in mind.

"What's wrong with her?" Dom asked and I judged that she was standing near Lily. I turned my head to the right but all I could see were large, white spots where their heads should have been. "Why isn't she worried about Hugo?"

I suddenly remembered what was going on. "Where's Hugo?" I asked, panicked.

"I-I..." Lily mumbled and then I heard Dom say, "Shh... its okay, Lil,"

I turned my head back so I was facing forwards just as Al asked from my left, "What's wrong with her? Is she okay?"

Getting annoyed with only my hearing, I blinked hard a few times and faces came into view. Al was standing to my left and Lily and Dominique were standing to my right, all three of them looking down at me. Angela was not with them, nor was there anyone else in the corridor with us. The person sitting with me on the floor, directly in front of me, was Scorpius.

Typical, he was _everywhere_. His face was only inches from mine, I could feel his breath on my cheek, and his hand was on my neck, feeling my pulse – or so I hoped –and I felt my heartbeat quicken. I knew what I felt: anger. My anger was only under control because I was so confused, which, by my calculation, made Scorpius the luckiest man alive right then. If I had been thinking clearly I would have used Aunt Ginny's favourite Bat-Bogey Hex on him.

Still, I couldn't help thinking how I wasn't feeling uncomfortable like I thought I would be; like I _should_ be feeling. All I wanted to do was reach forward and touch his face with my hands...

What in the name of Merlin was I thinking? _Push him away,_ I shouted at myself. _Now, Rose. Do it now._

"Eugh," I said and pushed his chest to indicate that he should move and tried to stand up. "Get off me, Scorpius. I can stand,"

He pushed me back on the floor, "It's not advised to let the casualty stand up right after they faint," he told me and I knew by his tone of voice that it was something that he had memorised from a book.

"Is she okay?" Al asked again.

"I'm fine, Al," I snapped. "Get your lunatic friend off me so I can curse him to hell and back before I go find my brother."

Nobody moved.

"I'm serious," I threatened but still they all stayed where they were. After a minutes silence from them I let out a frustrated scream. "Now I'm going to have to curse all of you. GET OFF, MALFOY," I yelled the last bit as he pushed me back onto the floor again.

"Are you sure she's okay?" Al asked yet another time. "Rose? Are you there?" He waved his hand in front of my face.

Of course I was fine, I was talking wasn't I? Sometimes Albus could be so _stupid_.

"Scorpius is arrogant and lazy and doesn't deserve to be Head Boy. I can't _believe_ I'm stuck with him for rounds all year. Dom is Quidditch-crazy this year and it's driving me insane. Lily never cry's so she's probably feeling vulnerable right now so I probably shouldn't tell her that her mascara's a mess. And you, Albus," I paused for breath. "_You are getting on my nerves_!"

More silence.

"She's fine," Scorpius said and helped me stand up.

"Finally!" I exclaimed as I brushed the dirt off my skirt. "And now I am going to find Hugo,"

"Actually, no you're not," Scorpius said and took a step in front of me so that I couldn't walk anywhere – there were only stairs leading down behind me and I didn't think I could walk down them without falling. "Angela's gone to find the others and get them to help look for him. She's also going to tell McGonagall so _you_ need to stand still and _not_ faint again. You. Are. Not. Going. To. Find. Hugo," He told me, placing his hands on either of my shoulders, and emphasizing the words by saying them slowly and patronizing me.

Again, I found him within my personal space that I liked to call my bubble and I _liked_ it. I shook my head slightly to snap out of whatever strange nightmare I was in.

"Yes, I am,"

"Not until Madame Pomfrey says you can go,"

I glared up at his face with determination but he was looking back at me with a look on his face that I didn't recognise. After a minute or two of us standing like that I gave up with forcing all my hatred on him and decided to ask him nicely – something I had never tried before. I took a step towards him, moving our bodies closer instinctively, and was more surprised than him when my voice came out in a whisper, "Please, Scorpius. Just move,"

The mask that always stayed on his face; the one showing his Slytherin pride, all his confidence and his famous Malfoy smirk, slipped and, for one small moment, I felt as if I'd seen his real personality behind his eyes.

He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out and there was only more silence.

He coughed.

Just then I realised that we were standing unnecessarily close and took a step back. To mask my confusion at what was going on in my head I used the most common emotion I felt when around Scorpius – anger.

"For Merlin's Sake, Malfoy," I yelled whilst stamping my foot. "Why does everything always have to be done your way?"

"Because, Weasley, my way is the best way,"

"Of course it is," I muttered sarcastically. "Look, just let me go so that I can find my brother,"

"No," he said simply, stepping in front on me as I tried to move forwards. I snapped.

I reached in my pocket for my wand and pointed it at him. "You're going to regret that, Malfoy," I said, my voice shaking because of my anger. "If you don't move out the way, I'll _make_ you,"

"Oh yeah," he snapped back at me, taking his wand from his pocket. "What are you going to do to me, Weasley, throw some insults my way?"

I pointed my wand directly at his chest and was just about to utter the worst spell that came to mind (I wonder if Uncle Harry and dad would have killed me or praised me if I had used a 'Prince' spell on him?) when Dom and Al grabbed my wrists and jammed them behind my back and my wand was taken out of my hands.

Scorpius was looking so smug and just too good-looking in the afternoon light for my liking right then that I did the only thing I could when faced with the most annoying person in the universe. I forced my way out of the hold that Dom and Al had on me and snatched my wand from Lily's frozen hands. I marched right up to Scorpius and I could tell that he thought I was going to curse him horribly. Instead, I punched him right in the face.

"Damn it, Rose," he yelled whilst clutching his bleeding face. "What in the name of Merlin was that for?"

He thought that was _my _fault? How could he have not seen that coming? It was obvious to me. My anger, which had been momentarily replaced by a satisfied feeling because I had done something to wipe that smug look off his face, resurfaced again and I took another step forwards.

"What's all this fuss about?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she arrived before I could rip Scorpius' head off.

"Nothing," I said quickly but Lily, Dominique and Al all said, "Rose fainted," at the same time.

"Oh dear," Madame Pomfrey said. "Can you walk dear? Well then, let's get you up to the Hospital Wing and check you over." I gave them each a well-deserved death glare before following her down the corridor.

"Nothing seriously wrong," Madame Pomfrey was telling me whilst I watched Lily look out the window and check the large clock on the wall every few seconds. A few moments ago we had received a patronus from Professor McGonagall telling us that she had located Hugo but Madame Pomfrey hadn't let me go, she insisted I stay until she was ready to discharge me.

And my patience was wearing thin.

"You should be fine; you can go in a moment. I just have to get another bandage for that hand," and she walked off into her office.

I had landed on my wrist and sprained it, something that wasn't helped when I had punched Scorpius in the face, other than that I was fine. My entire family, including Angie, who had gone to get Madame Pomfrey as well as organise a search party (sometimes she was too cool), were told to leave the Hospital Wing and go back to class as soon as we arrived. Or they could help find Hugo, depending on what Professor McGonagall said, we didn't know at this point where he was – after all, she couldn't have a whole group of us running up and down the corridors shouting for Hugo in the middle of lessons. Only two were allowed to stay with me.

Lily was here because she was a bit shaken up about the whole Hugo thing – he was her favourite cousin (apart from me, obviously), they had had practically every lesson together since their First Year – and because I thought she could use a break from class, and Scorpius was here because... why _was_ Scorpius here?

His face was fine; Madame Pomfrey had fixed it in an instant (although only after checking my wrist), something which I could have done myself, if I'd have wanted to... which I didn't.

"Why are you here?" I asked the boy sitting on the bed to my right, not caring about how rude that had sounded. Scorpius had insisted he stay as he was Head Boy and used his power to overthrow the protests of every other member of my family.

"Well, Rose, I'm Head Boy, aren't I?" He asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. I had to try hard not to say anything at this but did make a face to show that he was making no sense. "So it's my duty to stay," he added.

"And you didn't want to go back to class," I said, understanding as soon as I said it. "Boring lesson, Malfoy?"

"History of Magic," he admitted after a slight hesitation, his face going slightly red and smiling sheepishly – I chuckled at his comment. "So y'know... any excuse really."

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, still laughing a little as Lily walked back from the window and came and sat down on the bed next to me. "_'Any excuse_' isn't exactly what I'd call the best compliment,"

"I can't think where he could have been," Lily told me, changing the conversation back to Hugo.

"It's not your fault, Lily," I tried to reassure her. "Nobody could have expected you to look _everywhere_,"

"I still can't believe you fainted," Scorpius told me and he let out a short laugh.

"Whatever, Malfoy, you wouldn't understand when a sibling goes missing. I actually love my brother and I trust Lily completely," I squeezed her hand gently. "If she says there's something wrong, then there's something wrong,"

"Yeah, but, still..." he struggled for words. "Fainting?"

"Malfoy, he's my only sibling, and he's my _younger_ sibling. I have to look after him," I told him, I didn't know why I was explaining this to him – I knew Scorpius wouldn't understand it anyway. "That's _my_ duty."

Scorpius thought about this for a moment, then replied simply, "Okay,"

"Wait... Okay?" I asked, disbelievingly.

He didn't get a chance to reply as Madame Pomfrey came back from her office with the spare bandage she'd found. I don't know why she hadn't just _accio_'d it, possibly because it would have seemed lazy. My mother always told me that we shouldn't do everything by magic in order to appreciate how muggles lived. I understood this completely even though others didn't. This was why she made my father take a muggle driving test, that and because it was the easiest and quickest way of getting to places when we were younger without using magic such as apparating.

'Made' probably wasn't the right word. My father would do anything for my mum; he was already planning on taking a muggle driving test anyway when she had suggested it.

The new bandage was wrapped around my right wrist and Madame Pomfrey declared that I would live and was free to go. Scorpius walked with Lily and me back to the Portrait of the Fat Lady and the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.

"Don't forget," he told me as I turned to follow Lily through the portrait hole. "Rounds tonight at seven,"

I muttered something under my breath that I'm sure would have got me into trouble if he had heard and climbed through the portrait hole.

We made our way over to the fireplace and I was just about to ask Lily where everyone was as we approached our usual evening place when a figure stood up from my favourite armchair and stepped into view.

I stared at the person for a full thirty seconds before taking a step forwards.

"Hugo Arthur Weasley," I screamed, possibly attracting the attention of the whole Common Room, but I didn't care. "Where the _bloody hell_ have you been? Do you realise how worried I've been? Do you even care? And what about Lily! You should at least tell someone where you're going before you disappear completely!" Hugo flinched but I continued with my angry outburst, "Merlin, you're such a child. I don't know what I'm going to do with you. I should take twenty points from Gryffindor but I'm not going to because I know that's unfair on the house. I should put you in detention! What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Umm, I'm... sorry?" He asked it like a question.

"I should think so!" I yelled again. "Where were you?"

"I was... I was talking to Professor Ward,"

"All morning?" I asked, not quite believing that he would have that much to talk about with his Astronomy teacher.

"Well, yeah..." then his face lit up. "He told me all about the alignment of the planets and what they meant and he even said I was talented in it. Me, talented! I can't believe it, y'know,"

"Yeah," I muttered as I slumped down in one of the armchairs by the fire with Lily, there was nothing I could do to ruin his mood now, Hugo was happy. He continued his story about stars and rainbows and unicorns... or whatever it was about. I don't think I was listening very carefully as I soon found myself asleep.

"Rose... Hello, Rose..."

"Is she alive?"

"You don't think she fainted again, do you, Dom?"

"No, Lil, but maybe we should take her up to the dorm?"

"Maybe we should strap her to Ravenclaw Tower in her underwear,"

"Eww, Fred, don't be gross,"

"You do that to me, Fred Weasley," I muttered whilst opening my eyes. "And I'll make sure that you have detention every day until graduation."

Fred gulped. "Sorry, Rosie,"

"That's okay," I told him and took a look around to make sense of my surroundings.

Lily and Dom were sitting on the floor with Lucy, Molly and Fred and were playing Exploding Snap. Hugo sat on the armchair that he had been in when telling me his _fascinating_ story about his talk with Professor Ward. The rest of the Common Room were being extremely noisy; it appeared that, over in the far corner, a group made up of fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh years were playing a game of Truth or Dare.

I rubbed my forehead as I sat up. "What time is it?" I asked.

"Umm... seven ten," Lucy answered.

"Oh," I shouted, attracting the attention of a few people nearby. "Damn it, I was supposed to meet Malfoy ten minutes ago for rounds."

There was silence from them all as I straightened my hair and uniform and tried to wake myself up. "Oo, you're late," Fred said and I glared at him.

"Y'think?" I asked sarcastically and Fred quickly turned back to his game of Exploding Snap to prevent an argument.

"Bye guys," I yelled over my shoulder as I hurried out of the common room. I heard an answering muddle of 'bye' from them all and then the portrait swung shut and there was silence. I continued to hurry down the stairs to the Entrance Hall.

When I reached the bottom I saw Scorpius Malfoy leaning against a pillar and staring at his watch. I almost tripped over the last step but caught myself and came to an ungraceful stop in front of him. I really shouldn't run down stairs, they weren't kind to me.

He looked up, "Finally!"

"I apologise," I muttered. "Fell asleep."

Scorpius looked as if he was going to argue back for a moment, or at least comment on how I had said sorry, but then he thought better of it and just shrugged. "Fine, whatever, you're here now. Let's get going,"

He pushed away from the wall and started to walk off, heading for the Hufflepuff Common Room and Kitchen's. I rushed after him and walked alongside.

"What?" I asked, confused. "No yelling? You're just going to let it go that I'm late?"

After a few more corridors and two staircases he stopped walking and turned to face me and sighed. "What do you want me to say, Rose?" He asked.

I noticed for the first time that there was something wrong with his mood. Why wasn't he being all arrogant and smug like normal? Was there something wrong with him? Was his family alright? Did he have a fight with Al?

I found myself _caring_.

_Get a grip, Rose,_ I told myself again. _It's just Malfoy._

"Umm... I don't know," I answered lamely. "I just thought that you'd be, you know... annoyed,"

"I'm never annoyed at you, Rose," he whispered and started to walk again.

"What?"

"Nothing,"

"Tell me, Malfoy,"

"You know what, _now_ I'm getting annoyed," he told me but, somehow, I knew he didn't mean it. We continued walking and it was quiet for a moment in which I silently asked him if I was irritating him. He turned and grinned at me and I knew that we weren't arguing.

I immediately smiled back as we turned the corner and made over way through a hidden door and up a staircase.

_Why weren't we arguing? _I asked myself. _It was so unlike us to get along._

"Rose?" he asked and I was pulled back to reality. Scorpius stopped and sat on a window ledge facing me and I leaned against the wall.

"Mm?"

"What you said earlier, about 'not understanding when a sibling goes missing'..."

"Yes, I said that. What about it?"

"What did you mean?"

I faltered. "What do _you _mean?" I asked, confusing the conversation.

"Well..." he struggled for words so I decided to help him out a little.

"I just meant that because you don't have any siblings you wouldn't be able to comprehend what it feels like to worry about them all the time,"

"What makes you think I don't have any siblings?"

"Do you?" I asked, shocked. I'd never thought of Malfoy having any brothers or sisters.

"As a matter of fact," he told me, his voice changing to show pride. "I do. I have a sister."

"You love her?" I asked, not needing the answer. Of course he did.

"More than anything," he told me and he started to smile and I felt as if we were finally having a proper conversation despite all the times we had spoken before. Although, come to think of it, we had only ever argued. "She's the best. And she's so pretty, exactly like my mum."

"How old is she?"

"Four, she'll be five soon. Her birthday's not that long away; October the Tenth," he answered with a grin and I couldn't help but smile also. "She's called Clarinda,"

"Clarinda," I repeated. "Meaning beautiful, bright and brilliant," I told him.

"Yeah," he answered and his vision glazed over. "That's her,"

I raised my eyebrows in a questioning way but Scorpius was focusing on something else. I could already tell from only a short conversation that Scorpius _adored _his little sister. I couldn't believe that, until now, I hadn't even known that she'd existed.

I decided, after three minutes, that it was time to bring Scorpius back to 'the real world'. "Scorpius? Are you there?"

He didn't answer so I stepped closer to him and put my hand on his forehead, his face level with mine. "Are you alive?"

His eyes blinked and focused on my face. "'m here," he murmured.

"Good," I said, "Because we still have a whole two and a half hours of rounds left,"

He groaned. "Brilliant,"

Silence fell on us as we stared at each other. I was increasingly aware that he was so close again. What was happening to me today? I kept finding myself in his presence and I kept ending up closer to him than I should have been.

After another minute I lowered my hand and he stood up.

I coughed to fill the awkward silence. "Let's go,"

"Good idea," he agreed and we set off again down the corridor in silence.

"So..." I asked, the silence was getting to me. "What's Claire's favourite colour? I can call her Claire, right?"

"She absolutely _loves_ being called Claire," he told me and smiled again before turning back to look where he was going. "And it's blue,"

"Why blue?"

"She says it's the colour of the sky... most of the time, y'know, cause at night it's dark and—and there's stars, well I supposed it's not dark when there are stars out, but..." I gave him a funny look to show that he was rambling so he redirected the point of what he was saying, "But she's fascinated by it." There was more silence for another few corridors and then he asked, "Why do you ask?"

"Well, you can tell a lot from someone's favourite colour. Like, blue... okay, so blue means," I tried to think back to a book I remembered reading late in my Fourth Year that I found in the library when I was supposed to be doing my last piece of homework for the year. "Peace, tranquillity and loyalty. What's your favourite colour?"

He looked at me for a moment and I could tell that he was unsure whether to say it, possibly in case I started evaluating something embarrassing from it. Eventually, under my penetrating glare, he sighed, "Red," and then added quickly, "but don't tell anyone because they'll all think it had something to do with Gryffindor."

"Okay, okay," I told him, crossing my fingers over my heart, "Promise."

He still looked worried so I raised my little finger, "I'll pinkie promise," I told him but he just looked as confused as ever. "It's a muggle thing where you shake little fingers. Like the muggle equivalent of an Unbreakable Vow. But you don't die if you break it," I added as an after thought.

"Okay," he agreed and shook pinkies with me, my heartbeat going crazy when our skin touched, "Pinkie promise. So what does red mean then? Am I secretly in love with the Giant Squid? Going to pursue a career in glass-making? Fabulous at opera singing?"

I laughed with him, "Red means... charming—"

"—Now _that_ I am," he interrupted me, laughing.

"I haven't finished yet," I told him, a grin spreading across my own face. "Charming, ambitious, energetic, passionate and..." I mumbled the last word.

"What?" he asked, curious. "What was the last one?"

I sighed, I'd have to say it anyway, he was too determined. "Seductive,"

He laughed and soon I was laughing too. "Okay... so what does orange mean?" he asked, linking his arm with mine as we continued down the corridor. I sighed, partly out of frustration but mainly happiness because we were touching again.

_I'm officially going mental,_ I told myself before ignoring the feeling.

"Am I going to have to tell you _every_ colour?" I asked.

"Yep,"

It was only when I had arrived back at my dorm at a quarter past ten and had at last been able to collapse onto my bed and reflect on the day that I realised that something had changed between us. I didn't know what but I knew that we both saw each other differently.

Tomorrow would be interesting.

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><p><strong>So there you go. :) I hope you enjoyed it. I'd love a review if you can spare a few seconds? Do you feel there's more of a plot? Thank you for reading. :)<strong>


	4. Studying Really Brings People Together

**Thank you so much to everybody who read/reviewed/alerted/favourited this! :) I hope you enjoy this chapter! Let me know what you think! :) And also, any theories on what might happen. :)**

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><p>I woke up to the worst headache I had ever had. I wasn't sure exactly how I had got it but I knew that banging my head in the shower had not helped.<p>

This was why I traipsed down to breakfast on Tuesday morning, nearly knocking over Peter Maroon as he tried to talk to me for the twelfth time since term began (which was an accomplishment seeing as it was only the morning of the second day and we weren't even in the same house), and storming into the Great Hall in a bad mood.

I sat down between Al and Lucy, my hair getting frizzier by the second, and started buttering at my piece of toast angrily.

"So I had to go and drag—," Al stopped mid-sentence to turn and stare at me. "Whoa, Rosie, my little ray of sunshine, what's got your wand in a knot this fine morning?"

I glared at him pointedly and then my gaze switched as I watched Peter Maroon enter the hall and go and sit with his friends over at the Hufflepuff table. He waved enthusiastically at me. I clenched the toast in my hand until it was completely squashed and broke in half, landing on the table.

I was forcing my anger at myself onto Peter but, right now, I didn't care. It was early morning (I was most definitely _not_ a morning person) and I had a bad headache and bruised and painful leg.

I felt all my relatives in a two metres radius shrink away from me, supposedly unnoticed.

"Oh, cool it," I snapped at them all. "I'm not going to rip your heads off,"

"We disagree," Angie told me after a moment where neither of them had spoken.

I couldn't help it; I laughed. Angie always found a way to cheer me up, even when I was really upset. She had cured my 'heartbreak' in my second year when I was told that all the stories Gilderoy Lockhart had written were not his. Or when I had seen the only boy I had ever had a crush on, William Brown, snogging a girl two years older than us, back in our fourth year.

"So," I asked, mainly to change the subject, whilst buttering a piece of toast. "How was the start of term party?"

Fred, Albus, Hugo, Lily, Dominique, Lucy, Roxanne and Angela all turned to look at me. Or _glare_ would be the right word. The only person not glaring was Hugo.

"W-What?" I faltered.

"There was no party," Hugo told me and he poured some juice.

"Why not?"

"Because _somebody_," Albus turned this time to glare at Angie, "told the person on patrol, namely Head Girl, that there was going to be a party."

"Come on, guys," I complained. "I wasn't going to appear and give you all detention. I didn't even know where the party was."

"That was a risk that some of us didn't want to take," Fred said, mocking Albus by pretending to be serious. When Al turned away Fred's face broke out into a huge grin.

I tried not to laugh, "So when are you going to have it now?"

"Halloween," Hugo told me.

"Hugo!" Al yelled at him and a few Hufflepuff fifth year girls walking past turned to stare. Al winked at them before turning back to Hugo as they giggled. "You're not supposed to tell her!"

"Sorry," Hugo muttered but then started quietly cursing Al in French, which he probably learnt from Victoire and Dominique. Unfortunately, I was fluent enough to know what he was saying, and that meant it was harder for me to prevent my laughter.

"Am I not invited then Al?" I asked. "Just because I'm Head Girl doesn't mean I don't want to party."

"That's the spirit," Scorpius said by a way of announcing his arrival.

I shot a huge grin in his direction. "I take it you like to party then, Scorpius?"

"Just a little," he replied, smirking mischievously.

There was silence from all our friends as we both turned back to the group. Scorpius sat between Al and me.

"What..." Angie tried to say but Dominique interrupted her.

"Did we just walk into a parallel universe or something?"

I looked at Scorpius and saw that he was also staring at me. A look passed between us, it had a clear message: _'What did we do wrong?'_

I turned back to face Dominique, an expression of confusion still etched across my face. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," she started and hauled her bag onto the table. "That you're unusually nice to each other today. It's unnatural and, quite frankly," she stood up and walked past me smiling, "it's freaking me out."

"Whatever, Dom," I called back to her and I heard her laugh before she disappeared between the crowds of students now filing into the Great Hall for breakfast. I turned back to the others after glancing briefly at Scorpius; he was staring down at his cereal. "What's so wrong with a little politeness?"

"Nothing," Angie replied in a way that stated something completely different. I couldn't quite work out what she was implying so I settled for raising my eyebrows at her.

"You alright, Scor?" Al asked quietly over the giggling of Lucy and Roxanne. Again, I noticed that he was rather subdued today.

Was I even _supposed_ to notice? This has to be bad, how aware of him I was now.

He looked up from his cereal to see Al and then, when his eyes flickered to mine and saw that I was watching, he smiled. "I'm good, Al. Thanks."

"Okay..." Al started, he didn't sound too convinced but quickly spotted a group of seventh year girls over at the Slytherin table which attracted his attention better than if they were shiny objects. "See you guys in History of Magic," he muttered quickly and hurried after the girls as they left the hall.

After that I realised that every one of my relatives and best friends were in a really good mood. I didn't know why this morning was so special, but the mood was infectious and, by the time I found myself on my third piece of toast, I was smiling and laughing along with Fred and Angela as they recounted the story of Albus and Dominique arguing _again_ about some Quidditch move.

"So Dom said that it should have been 'dive, turn, shoot' but Al was all for 'turn, dive, shoot'—"

"What?" I exclaimed, purely to mock Fred for once – it was usually the other way around.

"—I know!" Fred told me and I rolled my eyes. He didn't get it; I couldn't care less about their Quidditch arguments. "Why, oh why, was Al given Captain?"

It was rhetorical but, nonetheless, Scorpius Malfoy must have felt like this was a good time to remind us of his presence and said, "I know, I mean, no one can beat me anyway, why bother with a team captain for Gryffindor this year at all?"

"Because we are _so_ much better than you," I told him. "And all we need is some idiot who thinks he's in charge...but obviously is _not_,"

"Ha ha, very funny Weasley," he told me but, unlike usual, he didn't say it in a rude way – it sounded like we were best friends teasing each other.

"Yeah," Angie commented. "Rose has Al wrapped round her little finger, don't you, Rose?"

"Yep," I agreed and smiled as we walked into our History of Magic classroom, only to be greeted by Albus.

"Where did you get to after breakfast?" Dom asked Al as she, too, entered the classroom and slammed her bag onto the table next to a girl with black hair and violet eyes, whilst adding, "Hey Alice,"

Alice smiled up at her and then her pretty eyes met Albus' and she blushed as Al winked at her. He turned to us all and stated, "I was talking to Rich about the upcoming plans for this year,"

"But don't the Head's get to decide the events?"

"Well, we were only guessing, Dom," Al told her, shaking his head as if he couldn't understand why she was taking this seriously.

"So what do you think we should plan this year then?" I asked, "We only get two events,"

"Party," he beamed, sitting down on Angela's right, Dom on her left. I sat next to Al and Scorpius sat the other side of me with Fred next to him, on the end. In History of Magic we sat in rows of seven; apparently that was because it was the most powerful magical number and therefore we would work better in groups like this.

And I was almost _one-hundred percent _sure that I was the only one who had listened when we had been told that.

"We need an excuse for a party, Al," Scorpius told him, leaning across me to speak to him. My breath hitched in my throat and I inhaled the scent of his cologne. I had to bite down hard on my lip so that I didn't do or say anything stupid.

"We need a cover story then," Al declared and, to my utter horror, Scorpius turned his face, now only inches from mine, and smiled at me mischievously before turning back to Al.

"How about a dance?" I asked and they all looked at me like I was having mental health problems. "What? Come on, it doesn't have to be all fairies and twinkling lights and ball gowns that flow to the floor and waltz music just because I say the word 'dance',"

"What _do_ you mean then?" Angie asked and Dom nodded her head rapidly whilst Al still looked like he was in shock from me suggesting he waltzed.

"I mean, Weird Sisters music and Hippogriff High and stuff,"

"Oh," they all said and realised what I meant.

"You mean we call it a dance, so that we can get it accepted by McGonagall, but then turn it into our very own party, teenage style?" I nodded in answer to Al's question and he laughed. "Excellent,"

Just then our History of Magic teacher, Mr Norton, who was thankfully not a ghost, entered the classroom (via the door, not blackboard) and called for the class to quieten down.

"Good morning and welcome back to school," he started and everyone but me groaned. "I'm sure you're ready to get started on some work after your lovely summer holidays. Today we're going to be talking about a subject that is involved in a fairly recent event in the Wizarding World but possibly the most important event to ever happen."

Everyone waited whilst Professor Norton turned and wrote the title of today's lesson on the board. I copied it down immediately onto my blank piece of parchment before fully taking it in and understanding it: _The History of_ _Horcruxes_.

"Now, does anybody know anything about this, before we begin?" he asked.

The eye of every person sitting on my bench and a few others in the room, including the Professor, turned to look at me.

"I...I don't know," I muttered, my voice sounding as if I couldn't believe I was saying those words, which I couldn't. I knew that everyone could tell that I was embarrassed, like I was admitting a great humiliation. "I—I'm not allowed to know. Or, at least, not until I was told at school,"

"No worry, Miss Weasley," Professor Norton said, turning back to the board. "That's what I'm here for,"

Still, I did not like to not have the knowledge before it was told in class. It made me feel uneasy. I could sense the curious eyes of Scorpius Malfoy staring at me from my right and Albus Potter staring at me from my left. "What?" I whispered to them both.

"You don't know anything about it?" Scorpius asked Al and I.

"No, I told you, I wasn't allowed to know,"

"So?" Scorpius asked me. "You didn't just ignore your parents and learn all you wanted?"

"Of course not!" I exclaimed in a whisper. He snorted. "What?"

"Come on, Weasley," he said whilst trying not to laugh. "You're really that... conforming?"

"At least I listen to my parents," I said, and the people sitting directly in front of us turned to tell us to be quiet. Luckily, Professor Norton just continued talking.

"It's good to take a risk sometimes,"

"No it's not," I insisted.

"God, this year's going to be hell, isn't it?" he asked rhetorically.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my anger flaring up again.

"I just mean that you're going to make it so boring, aren't you?" I had to resist the urge to slap him.

"I am not boring," I muttered under my breath as I started to copy down notes off the board.

"Prove it," He challenged me.

"You UN-prove it," I countered lamely. He simply looked at me. "How exactly am I supposed to prove I'm not boring?"

"I don't know," He said as if this thought had never occurred to him. It probably hadn't. "Stop taking notes for once, kiss a boy, annoy the Whomping Willow, take a bath in the Black Lake, run down the corridor naked, whatever you see fit,"

"Is that something you'd wish to share with the class, Mr Malfoy?" Came the annoyed voice of Professor Norton.

Scorpius smiled at me wilfully and I saw him and Al exchange a look that I knew would result in nothing good for me. "Don't you dare, Malfoy," I threatened under my breath but his grin just grew wider.

"Weasley was just deliberating whether to snog Peter Maroon or run down the corridor naked," he stated loudly so that the whole room could hear.

I felt my face turn red, even though I knew it wasn't true, and my anger got the better of me. I forced my books into my bags and stood up. I pointed my wand directly at Scorpius' face and, a second later, the words '_I like men'_ appeared on his forehead in bold red letters and I smirked and walked out of the classroom. Professor Norton wouldn't mind, I was usually a good student.

A few minutes later and the bell went. Dom, Angie, Fred and Alice caught up with me just outside the Great Hall.

"That was brilliant, Rose," Fred told me.

"He looked completely confused, he had no idea what you had done to him until he saw his reflection in the window," Angie laughed.

"The best thing is, he can't get it off without my consent," I told them and they all started to laugh just as we sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"What did you do?" Dom asked, "What spell did you use?"

"It's new," I told her. "I'm not sure if it has a proper name or not but I found it in this really interesting book in the library the other day – I've been waiting to try it out. I can change the words anytime I want,"

"That's just the best thing ever," I heard Lily exclaim as she joined us with Lucy and Hugo close behind. "Have you seen Scorpius?" she asked.

"Have we seen it?" Dom asked, incredulous. "We were there! Rose did it to him,"

Lily started to laugh, "Why?"

"Annoying, slimy, arrogant git," I muttered under my breath and they started to laugh.

"He can't get Madame Pomfrey to get rid of it either because none of us know what spell Rose used," Alice added.

The last part of her sentence was drowned out by Scorpius as he made his way over, fuming. Al was following behind; he and Rich Everton, a cute boy in our year with curly brown hair and bright blue eyes, were using the other to support themselves as they both tripped over with laughter.

"This is not funny, Weasley," Scorpius declared as he sat down opposite me and we all saw that the words had changed to read _'annoying, slimy, arrogant git'_. All my relatives including Alice and Rich burst into laughter at this.

"I beg to differ," I told him as it changed again to say, _'I love Lauren'_. Again, the laughter just doubled as we all saw Lauren Dowry hurry over from her place at the Ravenclaw table like the good little fan girl she was.

"Hey Scorpius," she asked whilst batting her eyelashes and twirling her blonde hair. I rolled my eyes but couldn't help laughing along with everyone else at Scorpius' panicking face. I could see his eyes dart around, looking for the exit.

"What's that on your forehead?" She asked.

"Weasley likes to _constantly_ throw insults my way," He told her and glared at me.

"Actually, the spell only lets the truth appear," I lied. Of course it didn't, I just thought it would be highly amusing to watch Lauren's face.

Lily and Rich had to start up a conversation about Transfiguration notes so that their new fits of laughter were less obvious.

Scorpius looked completely mortified with my answer and I could almost see his brain working quickly to find an excuse to run; now Lauren thinks he loves her. I decided to help him out a little. I waved my wand so that the words now read, '_inexperienced loser'_. Fred choked on his butterbeer and Al immediately slapped him on the back to try and cover up their new fits of laughter.

Lauren looked as if she was about to say something, I had no idea what, but her friend Paula called her back over to the Ravenclaw table and she left after saying a hasty goodbye and not commenting at all on Scorpius' improved look.

He groaned and turned to me. "_Please_ will you just take it off, Rose?" he whispered, sighing as if he expected another long argument.

"Sure," I replied and removed the spell with one lazy flick of my wand whilst buttering a roll of bread.

"Really?" he asked and used his spoon to check his reflection. All my friends were looking at me like I was mental for the second time that morning. "Just like that?"

I shrugged. "You overlooked me being late at rounds so I guess this is me making up for it,"

"Gee, thanks," I said sarcastically. "You know, you could have just said 'sorry',"

"No," Hugo interrupted. "Rose doesn't do that,"

"What?" Scorpius asked, totally confused. Al, Angie, Dom, Lily, Lucy, Molly and Fred, even Alice, nodded their heads in agreement with Hugo. "Why not?"

"She just doesn't," Hugo explained.

"I don't believe you should just say sorry all the time," I told Scorpius. "I think it gets stupid just saying it over and over again until you don't mean it,"

"You're lucky if you get a sorry from Rose," Angie informed him.

"So... what, you just never apologise?" He asked me, completely mystified.

"Of course I do," I snapped back. "Just never using the word 'sorry' unless I really am apologising for something terrible that I've done... what's so weird about that?"

"Oh..." he said, faking a loss for words. "I don't know... everything?"

I elbowed him in the ribs just as Peter Maroon came running over from the Ravenclaw table.

_Was he stalking me or something?_

"Hey, Rosie," he said a little too enthusiastically for someone who I had jinxed to have eight leprechauns follow all morning singing, 'For he's a jolly good fellow'. Apparently he had somehow removed them. Shame.

"Hey Peter," I replied, in an unimpressed manner."What's up?"

"I was just wondering, well... I'm having a hard time understanding what Professor Roberts is teaching and, well, I know you're really clever and all," I looked across the table and Dom rolled her eyes, "so I thought that maybe, if you wanted to, you could, umm... teach me?"

"Like tutoring?" I asked innocently. I was not going to let him know that I knew he was treating this like a date because I was certainly not going to. He nodded his head. "Sure,"

"Thanks!" he exclaimed and tried to hug me. Al and Hugo put their arms in the way so that he couldn't lean across the table. Unfazed, he addressed me again. "See you later then, about seven in the library?"

I nodded and he walked away with his stupid swagger. By this time I couldn't hold my smile any longer so I was grinning like a maniac. "Thanks Al," I told him and then kissed Hugo on the cheek. "I did not want that creepy boy touching me."

"No problem, _Rosie_," Al said and him and Scorpius left. They both imitated Peter's walk and Dom spat out all the pumpkin juice she had just been about to swallow. We all started to laugh again.

"Why in the world did you say yes?" Lily asked me.

"Because I love potions and he's a student,"

"So, being Rose Weasley, geek-extraordinaire, you just had to help," she joked and I nodded. "But, Rose, you do realise that you have to spend at least an hour with him later?"

I groaned. I hadn't actually thought of that.

I walked out of my dormitory and then down into the Gryffindor Common room. It was now five minutes past seven and I was trying to postpone meeting Peter in the library. I had my bag full of blank parchment and spare quills and all the potions books I owned that weren't in the library at school.

I saw my family, including Angie, sitting, again, by the fireplace and made my way over. Maybe one of them would want my help with an essay or some other piece of homework ad I wouldn't have to go and meet Peter. I really did not want to spend the next hour with him drooling over me like and idiot and trying to make a move on me.

To be honest, the strangest thing about it is that this behaviour around _Rose Weasley_ was _unnatural_.

"Hey," I greeted them all and joined Lily and Dominique sitting at the table, they were playing a game of Wizards Chess, one which Lily was losing badly. "Knight to B6," I muttered and the white knight moved forwards to completely destroy Dom's Queen.

"Hey!" Dom exclaimed. "No fair,"

"Calm down, Dominique," I addressed her by her full name. "I won't play any more,"

"Fine," she muttered and then her eyes lit up as if she had figured out a complicated puzzle. "King to C4,"

Her King moved forwards towards Lily's Rook and smashed it to pieces. Lily groaned but I immediately said, "Bishop to B5,"

Dom's smile slid off her face and turned to one of horror but before she could say anything I declared lazily, "Checkmate,"

I smiled and I heard Fred chuckle. "How the hell did you do that, Rose Weasley?" Dom screamed at me and I suddenly felt that it would be better for me if I was in the presence of Peter Maroon.

"Calm, Dom," I told her, hoping that she wouldn't kill me. "It's just chess."

"I was _hammering_ her," she screamed some more.

"Umm... I should be in the library... Peter's waiting for me..." I mumbled and stood up quickly.

"Yeah, you should," Dom snapped as I made a swift exit out of the portrait hole and down to the library.

Sure enough, Peter was standing outside the library and fidgeting on the ball of his feet. He hadn't noticed me so I took a deep breath as I approached and said, "Hey Peter,"

"Rosie!" he said, turning to watch me arrive. "I thought you wouldn't come..."

"I had to make a quick detour to beat Dom at chess," I told him, making it sound as if the situation couldn't be avoided.

"That's fine," he said and led us through to the tables at the back of the library.

I was about to sit down on the table closest to me when he kept walking and flung his bag down on the table right at the back of the room. I raised my eyebrows but followed him anyway.

"So where abouts did you get lost?" I asked, flicking through my notes whilst sitting in a chair.

"Umm... somewhere near the beginning," he replied, sitting also but moving his chair round so that he sat unnecessarily close for someone who wanted to learn.

"Right," I said, trying to decide where to start from.

I got to my feet and wandered round to the other side of the nearest bookshelf. After about two minutes of looking I found the book wedged between _'Charm your way to health'_ and _'Love Potions'. _I returned back to the table and sat back down, pulling a blank piece of parchment towards me.

I wrote a list of ingredients onto the paper and started to write a complicated formula. To me it wasn't complicated but, apparently, Peter found it complicated because he leaned forwards and turned the paper towards him.

"What does this mean?"

"It's—, " I started to say but then I noticed Scorpius walk into the library and sit down in a chair at an empty table, all the while staring hard at his copy of '_Advanced Potions Making_'. He attempted to sit down on his chair but missed because he was so engrossed in his book and landed on the floor.

I laughed loudly, not deliberately, and Scorpius turned and saw me, he blushed.

Wait, he _blushed?_ Scorpius Malfoy does not blush.

Before I could even register what I was doing I had vacated my chair and walked over to him, Peter following. Scorpius' gaze followed me as I came closer and then flickered to my hand, that I had offered him to help him up, and back to my face.

"Why, thank you... Rose," he said and let me help him up.

"You studying for potions?" I asked, trying not to laugh as I replayed him falling onto the floor in my head.

"Yeah," he admitted. "There's just one thing I can't get my head around... And there's a quiz on Friday,"

"There is?" I asked and he nodded. "If you want you can study with us,"

I indicated myself and an annoyed looking Peter. I didn't care if he thought this was some sort of a weird date, I didn't. It was making me more uncomfortable by the second and I would gladly have _anyone_ around to break the silence.

Even _Scorpius Malfoy._

For a moment I thought Scorpius was going to refuse but instead he just grinned and said, "Thanks,"

We all went back to the table, Peter looking more irritated than ever. This only made me smile more.

"Okay, so we also need a book called '_Basic Potions: NEWTs Level'_," I stated.

I stood up and made my way round the back of the last row of shelves in the library, Peter followed closely behind me; Scorpius stayed seated, waving lazily in my direction as if to indicate that he was fine sitting down and doing nothing. I scanned the bookshelves looking for the right book and when I saw it I stopped suddenly. Peter walked into me and I turned instinctively to glare at him.

Before I could turn back around he had grabbed my wrists and pinned me between himself and the wall of books behind me.

"Get off, Peter," I said calmly but my voice shook a little.

"Come on, Rosie," he whispered, his face close to mine. "I won't bite,"

This was the closest I had been to a guy (unless you counted relatives), _ever_, and it made me uncomfortable.

Unless you counted this morning in History of Magic with Scorpius.

_You didn't feel like this when Scorpius was this close,_ a voice in the back of my mind told me and I immediately told it to be quiet.

"Peter," I warned him. "Move,"

His face turned into an unpleasant smile, one that I thought would never appear on his face – he had seemed so sweet. The next thing I knew, he was kissing me. I clamped my lips together, there was no way I was going to kiss him, and struggled against his grip.

"What's going on?" I heard a voice ask and Peter immediately let go of me and took a step back.

Scorpius came into view and I sighed with relief. However, that relief lasted only a minute because I realised that he was about to murder someone; if I had to guess I would have bet on Peter.

I had never seen him looking so angry and even Peter shrank back from the force of his glare. Just when I was sure I'd have to go on the run for witnessing a murder, Scorpius closed his eyes and took several deep breaths.

"Get out of here, Maroon," he whispered. His voice, quiet but shaking with suppressed rage, scared the life out of Peter, who jumped a mile and then sprinted out of the library – I could hear Madame Pince yelling at him to slow down.

As soon as Peter was out of sight I looked at Scorpius and he opened his eyes to meet my gaze. I saw his eyes soften and he reached me in two long strides and pulled me into a hug.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

I was a little shocked at his behaviour. If this had happened a week go, if we had been at school that is, the whole situation would have gone differently. I was sure that, one, he wouldn't have agreed to study with us (not that we had got much studying done) and, two, he would have probably applauded Peter and left us alone.

I just nodded my head and held on to him as if my life depended on it. It didn't matter what _could_ have happened a week ago because that hadn't happened. He was here now and he had saved me from whatever Peter was planning to do.

After a few minutes in silence, in which I tried to stop myself from crying and simply hugged Scorpius' body closer to mine, he muttered quietly, "Come on, Rosie, lets get you some tea."

I pulled away from him and we started to pack away the piles of books and paper on our table. I sighed loudly in the silence and said the one thing that I really did not mean.

"You know, Malfoy, I'm not really that bad. I'll be fine, honestly, just... just go,"

He shook his head. "No way, you're lying and you know it."

"Malfoy—"

"—Scorpius," There was silence between us whilst we simply stared at each other. "Call me Scorpius, please."

"Now, come on," he took my bag and my pile of books, placing his one on top of mine. "You really need sugar."

I sighed and, as we walked out of the library I caught him glancing at me. Instead of looking away or even blushing like he had done before, Scorpius reached out and took my hand.

My heart rate quickened and I quickly told it to slow down. This was _Scorpius Malfoy_, I reminded myself for probably the millionth time since term had started.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard myself whisper the one thought that I _really _didn't want to believe it would.

_So what if it was Scorpius Malfoy._

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><p><strong>Thanks for reading! :)<strong>_  
><em>


	5. Of Arguing and Answering

**Hey, thank you guys so much for your wonderful reviews and for reading this and to those of you who story alterted it. I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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><p>Clutching a cup of warm tea, containing what were probably seven of eight sugars, I was ushered in the Gryffindor Common Room by Scorpius. He held my elbow but walked strangely close, almost as if he was trying to protect me. If I was being honest with myself, I actually liked the idea of him protecting me.<p>

_Was that weird?_ I shook my head slightly in disbelief at my odd thoughts. Something was wrong with me this year. _Maybe I should be getting therapy._ I contemplated that thought for a moment.

I tried to tell Scorpius that he was Slytherin and so shouldn't be in our common room but he cut off my speech every time.

"You really shouldn't—"

"—but I did so it's too late now." He raised his eyebrows as if challenging me to protest again. He didn't scare me at all so I carried on, ignoring his threats.

"Well, maybe it would be better if—"

"—No, it wouldn't." He snapped and then smiled weakly at me as if to apologise.

"Perhaps I should..." I turned towards the staircase that would lead to the girls dormitory but Scorpius' hands grabbed my shoulders firmly and steered me towards my family – the large collection of red-heads by the fire.

The eye of everyone in the common room followed us, yet no one stopped their conversations – there was no awkward silence. Well, obviously they were staring at Scorpius and not me, but it still felt strange after what had happened in the library.

_Don't think about it, Rose. _I told myself as we reached the far corner of the room.

Scorpius offered me the only free armchair by the fire in a way that meant that I _had_ to sit in it or face more threats. Sighing, I accepted and sat down whilst he went and sat on the floor between me and Lily. Al and her were playing a particularly violent game of Exploding Snap. Lily's half-finished Potions essay sat on the floor behind her – I knew I'd have to finish it for her later.

"Hey," Scorpius greeted everyone and Lily, realising this abnormality, froze in their game.

"Hey Scor," Al replied, never turning away from the game. A few seconds later and he raised his hands in triumph. "In your face, Lils." Then he noticed her expression, "W-What? I didn't cheat."

Instead of answering, Lily chose to simply stare at Scorpius for a moment before saying loudly, "What, in the name of Merlin, is _he_ doing here?"

Everyone, that included Al, Angie, Dom and Hugo, turned to see who Lily was pointing at.

"Scorpius?"

"What... is that _Malfoy?_"

"What is he doing here?"

Scorpius raised his hands calmly and they all stopped talking at once. "Calm down, _Merlin_, I'm only here for a minute. I just wanted to see what your common room looked like." He looked completely unfazed by their sudden rudeness

"Rose, didn't you tell him that he couldn't be here?" Dom asked me and I was immediately defensive.

"Of course I did."

"Well didn't you suggest that maybe—"

"Yes, I did."

"And his answer was...?" she prompted.

I thought for a moment, trying to recall what he had told me when we were down in the kitchens, waiting for my tea. It was probably the only thing we said to each other. "_'I'm Head Boy, so I think I'm allowed to see the Gryffindor common room.'"_

Dom simply looked at me for a moment. "Still, Rose, _you_ shouldn't have let him in. You are Head Girl, remember?"

"Yes, Dom, thank you," I snapped in her direction. Her questioning was getting annoying, I was tired and I had just been forced to stay in the common room instead of going upstairs to bed, where I really wanted to be right now.

I sipped some of my tea to fill the silence between us. Dom glared at me as I stared pointedly at the fire. Al and Scorpius started up a conversation about, nothing other than, Quidditch.

Once I started to feel the tea in my cup become cold I sighed, attracting the attention of Scorpius, who appeared to be arguing with Al over which Quidditch team was the best.

"What's wrong, Rose? Are you hurt?" He edged closer slightly in my direction, checking to see if there were any bruises on my face.

Before I could reply Hugo interrupted. "Hurt? Why would Rose be hurt?"

"Umm..." I didn't know what to tell them. As crazy as it sounded, I didn't want them _all _beating up Peter. Maybe only one or two of them. I looked over at Scorpius just as he turned and opened his mouth to tell them.

I jumped up from my seat as quick as lightning, spilling my tea over the carpet as I did so, and practically jumped on Scorpius, pinning him on his back between my body and the ground in front of the fire. As my skin touched his it was like a jolt of electricity passed between us. Scorpius' face changed to show an emotion that I couldn't quite diagnose before quickly turning back to his usual mask of composure, just like it was when he was around everyone. Luckily my family hadn't heard my intake of breath but Scorpius had. He smirked slightly at me before attempting to sit up. I refused to move for a moment, moving closer to him and whispering in his ear, "Don't you dare tell them, Scorpius Malfoy," and then sat up, pulling him into a sitting position next to me.

"Oops, sorry about that," I giggled, something which was very out-of-character for me, whilst my family looked at me curiously.

Scorpius coughed awkwardly, "That's—that's okay."

I stared into the fire, avoiding the eyes of my family. After about three seconds I couldn't take it any more. "Y'know, maybe now would be a good time for you to go," I told him and, to my relief, he nodded.

"It's almost curfew anyway," he agreed, avoiding my eyes. "See you all tomorrow."

As Scorpius got up to leave, instead of saying 'night' like the others, who all seemed to have missed the moment that passed between us, I was silent. I noticed that Scorpius ignored me, never looking me in the eye or addressing me directly.

He walked across the common room, eyes following him as he did so. Just before he reached the portrait hole and disappeared from sight he turned and called over his shoulder to Albus,

"And the Holyhead Harpies _do_ always beat the Chudley Cannons," then he disappeared as the portrait swung shut.

* * *

><p>As the week passed I spotted Scorpius every now and then in the hallways between classes or leaving the Great Hall after a meal. He always seemed to be in a hurry when I saw him, never stopping to say hello – in fact, I was starting to believe that he was avoiding me.<p>

And I had good reason, too.

He'd been... a little _off_ ever since I'd jumped on him on impulse. Granted, it was a little extreme and strange of me to do at the time, but it was as if he'd been disturbed by it and confused.

Last time I had tried to talk to him, about Prefects rounds, had been Thursday, yesterday, between Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology – he had obviously avoided me.

"Scorpius, hey... Scorpius!" I had shouted, accidently bumping into a Second Year as I hurried down the crowded corridor to catch up with my prey. He kept walking, possibly even faster. "Oi, Malfoy!"

I practically yelled at him, a few people turned to stare, but he hurried off, shoving aside a group of four or five First Years who all tumbled to the floor and were promptly trampled on by another, much larger, group of Fourth Years.

Being the eager, happy-to-give-advice, helpful, setting-good-standards Head Girl that I am, I gave up on playing that particular game of '_guess-if-I'll-catch-Scorpius-Malfoy-today' _and stopped to offer them a hand up and repair their broken books, bags and/or glasses.

By Friday afternoon I was sick and tired of his evasiveness so, marching into Defence Against the Dark Arts determinedly with Angie and Alice, I took my seat. Alice sat on the other side of me whilst Angie went to dump her bag on her own desk, which she shared with Rich, before returning and sitting upon my desk.

"Hey!" I complained just as Scorpius entered, chatting happily with Al and a few Girls from Gryffindor that I shared my dorm with. Alice, Angie and I watched silently from across the room. One of them, Laura Retham, had long, perfectly shaped blonde hair that flowed just past her shoulders which was complimented by her bright blue eyes. Overall, she looked, well... beautiful.

It was sickening.

Her friend, Debbie Hastings, looked just as pretty with her chocolate brown hair in perfectly curly locks and matching brown eyes. She laughed at something Al said, which was probably not funny because Scorpius rolled his eyes and Al, after looking slightly confused, smiled along with her and looked particularly pleased with himself.

I heard a noise of disgust behind me and turned, expecting to see Angie in one of her 'teenage love life sucks' kind of moods, only to be surprised by Alice who, for once, was not polite and pleasant.

"Whoa, Alice..." I jokingly retreated further away from her in my seat. "What's wrong?"

It looked like she wasn't going to answer for a moment but then turned away from the others and started to rant to Angie and I. "They just... just _strut_ around the place like they own it. Like it's theirs to do with what they want. Well, you know what? They don't. They're not even remotely interesting." The quill in her hand snapped and Angie and I shared a terrified look. "So maybe they're pretty but that doesn't mean that they're _interesting_. I mean, we know the real them – we've lived in the same dorm as them for the past few years and all they care about is make-up and boys and – and _more boys_."

She finished her outburst just as our Professor entered the classroom and told everyone to return to their seats. Professor Epps was a short, young man who mainly dressed in jeans and a loose shirt. Despite his height, almost all the girls in our school fancied him – he looked like he belonged with Zeus, at council with the other Gods.

As the students returned to their seats the chatter didn't die down completely. Even _I_ continued speaking to Angie and Alice.

"I agree," I told Alice in a voice that hinted at a little more anger than normal as we both turned back to watch the girls from our dorm flirt badly with Scorpius and Al.

"O –okay...," Angie looked confused. "What's up with you two?"

"Nothing," we both snapped at her in unison and then, at the same time we both apologised. "I'm sorry, Dom."

She looked pleased with this apology and left to occupy her seat as Professor Epps clapped his hands for silence.

"Okay, welcome back everyone. Now, seeing as it is the first week back to term I have decided that it'll be fun to mix you all around a little bit." Everyone groaned with annoyance. " Debbie, swap with Angie—," (Angie looked as if she'd just died by being paired up with Laura and complained the whole time Professor Epps moved the room around), "And, lastly, Alice can sit with Albus, which leaves Mr Malfoy and Miss Weasley."

"Typical..." I muttered under my breath.

Professor Epps smiled at us all and then turned back to the blackboard, waving his wand in its direction so that the name of a spell appeared on the backboard – '_Protego'._ We had learnt this spell in Third year (I had learnt it in First) but were told that this lesson was _'practicing'_. We were ordered to practice the spell on each other, one firing whatever random curses we wanted to ( as long as they weren't Unforgivable or had any permanent damage) whilst the other attempted to block it.

"You want to go first at _protego-ing_ or want me to?" I asked Scorpius kindly; something told me that he was in a bad mood with me. I had no idea why. Scorpius only grunted in my direction. "Okay... I'll go first. I have a list of different curses if you wanted to practice them too, or just... just— hello?"

Scorpius, completely ignoring me, made his way to the back of the classroom where there was just enough room for us to practice between all the other pairs, not even bothering to pretend to listen. My anger boiled over its rim and snapped.

"Hello?" I yelled, running after him, thankfully the others in the room were too busy laughing or screaming to notice properly. Scorpius continued walking but I knew he'd heard me because his body tensed slightly. "What's wrong with you? Do you just think that you can ignore people whenever you want? You can't choose who you talk to and you can't limit the people who talk to you! Do you honestly think you're the best thing in the world? Answer me honestly because I don't know anymore, Malfoy!"

He spun on his heel and glared at me, only an inch or so away from my face. "Is that really what you think, Weasley? That I think I'm too good to talk to you?"

"Do you?"

"I don't know, do I?"

"Well you're the one who's been ignoring me these past few days!"

"What? No I haven't!"

"Well then talk to me, Scorpius." I whispered. His face changed immediately to soften.

"I'm sorry,"

I can't say for sure but I'm _pretty sure_ that I stood there, staring at him, for at least a full fifteen seconds. I wasn't actually expecting him to say sorry, I'd expected some arguing. And, to be honest, I really needed to shout at someone right now.

"Umm... Rose?" Scorpius waved his hands in front of my face and I blinked back to reality.

"Sorry, I—I sort of zoned out a little there. Come on," I tugged on his arm and it was just like before, in the library – we were friends again. "We should get _some_ work done."

He groaned. "Really?"

Laughing I replied, "Really."

* * *

><p>By the time the lesson had finished and the bell for the end of the day rang , half the people in our class had either one eyebrow a different colour or were charmed so that rainclouds hung over their heads. Scorpius and I had not been able to break through each others shields, even just the once. It was odd, really. I didn't know that he was that good at Defence Against the Dark Arts. I would never admit it to him but he was probably better than I was.<p>

We walked out of our last lesson of the first week back to term laughing and smiling with each other. I saw Alice and Al chatting happily. As Alice dropped her books Al quickly jumped at the chance to grab them for her. HE handed them back to her and they both blushed. I turned to Scorpius as we walked down to the Great Hall and we started to laugh.

"Alice and Al?" He asked me and we tried to push through the crowds in the Charms corridor. "Really?"

"What's wrong with that? They'd make a sweet couple."

"But Al? _Al _in a relationship with one girl?"

"Al can be really nice when he wants to be. This little show he puts on really doesn't fool me at all. He can be sweet and kind and considerate, he just doesn't want to show it. I think a proper relationship would be really good for him."

Scorpius thought about that and smirked at me. "Who'd have thought that Rose Weasley would have a soft side?" he teased.

"Who'd have thought that Scorpius Malfoy would?" I countered and he laughed at that too.

"Hey, I resent that. Didn't your parents ever tell you not to judge someone by their relatives?"

"Well, in my case, I have way too many relatives keeping me busy to even figure out who _I_ am," I sighed. We walked in silence for a minute, the crowds moving forwards painfully slow.

Then my foot went through the trick step, _again_. I still couldn't believe that it hadn't been fixed yet. How many times had I forgotten it was there this week? I reminded myself silently not to answer that.

Scorpius helped me up, chuckling at my unbalance and, what he liked to call, lack of surrounding knowledge.

"Maybe you should focus on yourself, then?" he suggested. "Focus on what _you_ want, and not what those around you do."

"What if they're the same thing?" I asked, genuinely looking for an answer, as he set me back down on my feet.

"Are they?"

I sighed. "Probably not."

"There's your answer then," he told me and I wondered how he knew that I had secret goals that I would never _ever_ even consider telling my family.

I was actually enjoying myself and found an unexplainable burst of anger ripple through me when I heard Angie shouting after me to slow down.

I ignored her, which was d_efinitely_ not like me (especially with Angie – she was my closest friend in the whole world), but she soon caught up when Scorpius and I were at the bottom of the Grand Staircase.

Panting for breath, she asked, "Roo, did you not hear me shouting?"

"Umm," In the space of about two seconds, while Angie caught her breath, I decided what I should do. I lied to her for the first time in seven years. "No, sorry, Ang. Guess I'm going slightly deaf."

"Don't worry," she told me. "It _is_ pretty noisy in the halls today. Being a Friday and all." Then she stood up straighter and properly looked at us. "What's going on?"

Scorpius and I literally jumped apart, and he, muttering something quickly about wanting to find Al, disappeared into the crowds now streaming into the Great Hall.

Angie looked at me curiously for a minute, silence enveloping us. Finally I couldn't take it any more so I asked, "What? We were just talking about the next schedule for rounds."

Angie actually looked relieved. "Oh, right. Sorry for my weirdness."

_Now I had to remind myself to actually talk to Scorpius about the next schedule for rounds._

I hung my head in shame. "Sorry for ignoring you. You knew I was lying, right?"

She smiled at me as Alice joined us. "Totally."

"What's for lunch, then? I'm starving," Alice asked, unnaturally cheery, even for her.

Angie was quick on the mark. "What's put you in such a good mood?" she asked as we sat down together at the Gryffindor table with Dom, Lucy, Lily and Hugo.

"Nothing," Alice beamed at us and then I caught her attention switch to Al and her smile widened.

"_Sure_," I muttered sarcastically back at her before taking a large bite from my roll just as Al joined us.

"So, Gryffindors, who's ready for the Quidditch Tryouts tomorrow, then?"

I immediately spat out the piece of roll, causing Lucy to squeal with disgust.

_Damn,_ I inwardly cursed myself. I had completely forgotten about the Tryouts that Al had requested I attend, being a member of the Quidditch Team. _Al had even reminded me specifically._

I just hoped I remembered in the morning.

* * *

><p><strong>Not the best chapter, I admit. It's more like a filler really. Sorry about that. Thank you for reading. I'd love to hear what you think about this chapter or theories of what's to come?<strong>


	6. Quidditch Can Be Violent  Part 1

**I'm incredibly sorry to anybody who has already read this chapter before I formatted it. I completely forgot - guess I was in such a hurry to get it up it completely slipped my mind. Thank you to those people who let me know about it, because I can totally see how important page breaks are - especially if I'm changing POV!**

**Thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

* * *

><p>"Merlin, Merlin, Merlin," I muttered under my breath between every swear word as I hurried down towards the Entrance Hall on Saturday morning, tripping over my untied shoelaces every five seconds.<p>

Apparently Dom had decided that it would be more amusing _not_ to wake me when she had gotten up and left me to oversleep. And I was definitely going to kill her. Right after I pleaded with Al to not kill me.

Okay, so Al _had_ reminded _me_, specifically, that I wasn't supposed to be late.

_But we weren't all perfect, were we?_ I reasoned with myself before turning the corner at full speed and promptly tripping and falling flat on my face.

I rubbed my forehead and tried to blink back the tears in my eyes from the pain in my head. That had hurt, and now I was even later than before. I quickly pushed myself to my feet, swinging my Firebolt Exclusive back over my shoulder, and walked directly into a body hurrying in the opposite direction.

"Seriously!" the person muttered, clearly annoyed, whilst I tried to blow hair out of my face. "Can't anybody in this castle watch where they're—"

I cleared my vision with just enough time to see Scorpius raise his head and spot that it had been me who had collided with him.

"—Rose?" he asked, smiling and losing all hint of his bad mood.

_Okay,_ I reasoned with myself, taking in the appearance of Scorpius' face. He looked unbelievably gorgeous standing in the sunlight, running his hand through his hair (probably a habit he picked up from Al), and his fringe sweeping across his forehead and over his left eye, _apparently some people were perfect._

_ Snap out of it, Rose,_ I practically yelled at myself, remembering that Scorpius was expecting an answer.

"Yes, it's me, _genius_," I told him sarcastically. "Who else has hair this colour?"

He laughed at that and the sound melted away all the anger I felt at myself, Dom and Al. Trying to delay my arrival to the Quidditch pitch, therefore delaying being cursed at by Al in French, I asked, "By the way, did you ask McGonagall about that dance? I forgot."

"Did you tell your family about Peter?" He retorted, his face showed seriousness that I wouldn't normally argue with.

"No, and I don't plan on doing it anytime soon."

"Rose," he sighed, annoyed and frustrated, and leaned against the wall next to him. "You _have_ to tell them because Peter deserves everyone hating him and, most importantly, he deserves to be beaten to a pulp by a bunch of random people."

I sighed, ignoring him. On second thoughts, I'd rather be at Quidditch tryouts. "Is that all, Scorpius, because I have somewhere I need to be."

"Why is it that you're _always_ in a hurry?" He teased and I felt my heart rate quicken again when he smiled at me like that.

_Scorpius Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy, _I chanted in my head to remind myself.

"I'm not," I retorted, looking over his shoulder. "I'm just really, _really_ late for Quidditch tryouts."

"How late?" he asked, curiously.

"Put it this way," I moved my head to look at his face. "If you stay here much longer I'm probably going to be made into Mandrake seeds."

"Is that a real thing?"

"Yeah, they're small, pink and purple seeds that you put in water and dissolve so that when you water the Mandrake's they grow much quicker and—," I realised that I had completely gone off topic, "and never mind about that. The point is, I'm _very_ late."

"Oh," Scorpius was smirking at me now. "I know _that_."

"You do?"

"Yep..." he responded briefly. "Everyone's down there waiting for you so they can start the tryouts. Al's going _mental_." I simply stared at him pointedly but he didn't realise. "It's actually quite funny," he laughed.

I flicked him on the forehead once and he looked thoroughly shocked, "And you still started talking to me about Mandrake seeds?" I fumed.

"Sorry, is now not a good time?" Scorpius appeared to look confused and innocent but I knew better. I sighed dramatically in a '_seriously-boys-are-idiots_' kind of way before stepping round him and continuing down the corridor.

"Oh, and Weasley," Scorpius called and I turned on my heels to glare at him as he made me even later for tryouts again. "I spoke to McGonagall about that dance idea and she's all for it. She says that the night before we break up for Christmas would be great. We can post it up in the Common Rooms later during rounds."

"We're on duty later?" I asked.

"Err, yeah," he responded as if this was supposed to be obvious.

"When were you going to tell me this?" I asked him, raising my voice slightly. I wasn't practicing Quidditch as much as I should have been and I was already behind on homework (Rose-Weasley-behind-on-homework, that is). "I could have had a date or loads of homework."

"Whoa, calm down, Rose. I was going to tell you _now_. And, a date?" he asked. I nodded.

The only response I got was a loud chuckle as he walked away.

I turned and, remembering what I was supposed to be doing, sprinted back out of the castle and down to the Quidditch Pitch, racing past the last few people who were slowly making their way over to watch the tryouts like they had all the time in the world. _Merlin, how I envied them right now._

It was a sunny and warm day, not really the best weather for Quidditch because the sun tended to always get in your eyes but it was useful when the light reflected off of the snitch and I was able to catch it quickly. Hopefully the weather wouldn't heat up too much because I hadn't had anything to drink today; there was a chance that I could dehydrate.

I slowed down to a jog as the Quidditch Pitch came into sight and got stuck behind the line of people walking slowly towards it. Lucky me, I was walking at an unbearably slow pace straight behind Laura Retham, Debbie Hastings and a few other girls, all of whom I had a strong dislike for.

"Great," I muttered under my breath, unable to stop myself.

Laura turned and, seeing me standing alone, smiled much too sweetly. "Hey, Rose, want to come and join us?" she asked.

"No thanks, Laura." I told her, but she dragged me into her group anyway and I was forced to walk at an even slower pace than before.

Scorpius passed us waking quickly, heading from the castle back down to the Quidditch Pitch, evidently having just acquired his sunglasses and a bottle of water from the kitchens. I shot him a look that clearly pleaded for help but he just smirked at me and waved before hurrying past and calling back to me, "Aren't you late for something, Rosie?"

I blushed, I'm not sure why, but within a second or two the other girls had turned to stare at me and Scorpius had escaped their swooning.

"You talk to _Scorpius Malfoy_?"

"Oh, my god, he _talked _to you!"

"Did you hear that? He called her _Rosie_!"

"Alright, alright," I tried to shush their immature behaviour towards boys. "It's not _that _miraculous."

It was actually quite strange; they were the ones who were frequently in the company of boys (that's the polite way to put it), whereas I wasn't... okay, so I was _never_ in _that_ type of company with boys, but I was the one who didn't act like a five-year-old when talking about them.

Laura was the first to form a coherent sentence and answer me. "But it's Scorpius _Malfoy_. He's... he's just so _hot_."

"Uh huh, and while I value that in a person," I muttered quickly. "I'm perhaps more inclined to date somebody who is also kind, caring, funny and all that."

Laura stared at me blankly for a moment. "Really? But that's just so boring."

I shrugged my shoulders. "Which reminds me, Malfoy_ is_ right – I _am_ late for something, excuse me."

And with that I quickly ducked out from between their interlocked arms and ran as fast as I could down towards the Quidditch Pitch.

I continued running the last few metres until stopping, ungracefully, in front of my whole family and group of friends who had formed a (pathetic-excuse-for-a) circle in the middle of the Quidditch Pitch.

Alice, Scorpius and Al were talking about, well... Quidditch (Did those boys ever talk about anything else?), Angie was trying to get the attention of Lucy and Molly who were having an argument about the shortness of Lucy's skirt, Hugo stood towards the side of the group reading a battered looking book whilst trying to avoid being hit by Fred, Louis and Roxanne, who were all playing a game of _'Weasley-in-the-middle'_ where Fred was being shoved between the other two rather violently whilst they tried to knock him onto the floor.

I skidded on the mud between Al and Alice; it had rained the night before, and tripped over my own feet. As I felt my broomstick go flying out of my hands I tried to brace myself for impact with the ground (for the second time today, thanks to stupid, look-how-cool-I-am-as-Quidditch-Captain Albus Potter) and closed my eyes.

I never actually hit the ground, though, because two strong arms wrapped themselves around my waist and neck and pulled me closer to the upright body, forcing me upwards and into an almost-standing position.

I looked up to see Scorpius only a few centimetres away from me, clutching me tightly to his body and looking down, concerned, at my face (which was now covered with mud splatters).

He whispered, "Merlin, Rosie, watch yourself."

I coughed, my head spinning when I felt his sweet breath on my face, "Thanks, Scorpius. That could've hurt."

"You think?" He asked me sarcastically, chuckling.

I felt the smile on my face disappear quickly as three people decided to comment on my arrival all at once.

"There you are, Rose!"

"Oh, Merlin, are you okay?"

And lastly, my personal favourite, Al exclaimed irritably at me, "You're late."

I, along with Scorpius, turned to glare at Al at the exact same time. Then I looked to Alice, "Fix him." I muttered to her and she laughed before dragging Al towards the edge of the Quidditch pitch, apparently discussing the arrangements for the keeper tryouts as she pointed towards the three hoops on the opposite side of the pitch.

I turned back to the others. "I'm sorry that I'm late."

"Don't worry, Rose, Al was busy. I think he's really just pretending to be that annoyed to show that he cares for his Quidditch team," Dom told me, rolling her eyes.

"Not as much as he cares for Alice," Scorpius breathed into my ear, making my stomach feel tingly, and I burst into fits of laughter with him. In the distance, with perfect timing, Alice had decided to discretely touch Al on the arm after laughing at one of his jokes. Al had been so shocked that he had literally frozen for a full three seconds before almost tripping over from being in a daze. He was usually very, _very_ confident around girls and never lost his cool so watching him blush and stutter around Alice was just impressive on Alice's part.

The others all stared at us as our laughter only doubled when Alice gently placed her hands on his shoulders to steady him.

Dom and Angie exchanged what I thought was a confused look just as I lost my balance again, treading on Scorpius' foot, and knocking us both to the ground.

We splashed into the mud, me lying slightly on top of Scorpius, and bumped heads, still laughing.

The rest of my hair came out of the bun that I had placed it in and sprawled all over the mud on the floor, including over Scorpius' face so that he had to spit red hair out of his mouth whilst still laughing. Not only that, but his clothes were completely ruined. _Bad day to wear white, Scorpius,_ I thought as I took in his appearance of jeans and a plain white shirt.

"Oi," Al yelled over at us all. "Will somebody please get them two up before I have to personally hex them so that we can start tryouts?"

I managed to get to my feet, without tripping back over again in the mud, and helped Scorpius up also. Hugo and Dom went to join Al as the others all made their way to watch from the stands, leaving Scorpius and I alone. Well, we were standing in a Quidditch Pitch with spectators but they were all focusing on Al at the moment as he introduced the tryouts.

"Thanks, Rose," Scorpius mumbled and then looked properly at me. "Err, no offence but you're a complete mess."

I slapped him on the arm. "Hey, you are too, you know."

He ran his hand through his muddy hair. "Yeah, I know."

"At least you can go and shower," I told him enviously. "I have to stay until we find a keeper and two beaters. It's going to take _forever_."

"Leave?" Scorpius asked. "I don't think so, Rosie, I'm staying to watch the tryouts."

"In case I fall flat on my face, I take it. Seriously though, is it to save me from injury again or to laugh?" I asked him as his eyes moved to follow someone over my shoulder.

"Neither," he breathed and I turned, following his gaze until it rested on Peter Maroon. I felt myself tense as Peter turned to see us as he approached to make his way to the stands. He was smiling and laughing with his friends as if what he had done to me was all a lie. I hated that.

He passed us and I released the breath that I had been holding unintentionally. Scorpius squeezed my shoulder, smiled at me reassuringly and made his way over to the stands to watch our tryouts.

I wandered over to Al, picking my Firebolt Exclusive out of the mud as I passed it, and stood beside him as he finished addressing those who had applied for tryouts.

"Alright, I think we'll get the tryouts for the keeper out of the way first so that we can get straight on with finding both our beaters." Everyone nodded their agreement. "Okay, so, those who are here for the beaters tryouts could you just wait over on the benches by the changing room doors and those who are trying out for keeper can make a line over here."

Everybody on the pitch arranged themselves accordingly; the bulk of those on the pitch that weren't already in the Quidditch team went to sit on the benches and those left made a line in front of Al.

The first person was Rich Everton. He looked, for once, like he was going to be sick but determinedly took to the air on his Nimbus 2020, following the rest of us and made his way over to the hoops. I stayed circling in the middle of the air, watching over the others who were waiting to be tried out, like Al had told me to do in other tryouts whilst he, Dom and Hugo went to test Rich's Quidditch skills.

The first shot, by Dom, looked as if it was sure to score as it whizzed through the air, curving slightly to throw off the keeper, but Rich, with speed that could easily match Oliver Wood, shot forwards and caught it in one hand in front of the left hoop.

"Whoa," I muttered under my breath and almost lost my balance on my broom as I leaned forwards to hear what Al was saying. The lack of wind made it easy to hear him without the chance of falling to my death so I decided, pretty quickly, that I would remain sitting upright.

"Well done, Rich. That was very good. Carry on, Dom," he added, calling over to Dom on the other side of the pitch as she circled back round towards the hoops again, another quaffle in her hand and looking slightly annoyed that her 'special shot' had failed.

"Damn, he's good," she winked at me as she passed and fired again at the hoops.

Rich easily caught the other four quaffle shots, two by Dom and two by Hugo. The next hopeful keeper, Lenny Bayard, was a Fifth Year who caught three out of five. After him came Amelia Smith, then Danny Roy and Denise Lead, all three caught only two quaffles out of five and, finally, Luke Howards caught four, narrowly missing the fifth by losing control of his broom when spiralling downwards to catch the quaffle before it passed through the right hoop.

Clapping and cheering was loud throughout the stands which had slowly filled up with spectators. Last years beaters had been the best since Fred and George Weasley. They had been two guys by the names of William Forsyth and Ben Atkinson but had finished their last year of Hogwarts last year (by quitting three weeks before the end of term and becoming beaters for the Caerphilly Catapults and the Falmouth Falcons).

Rich was announced as the new keeper for our team and joined me, higher up in the air, whilst Al went to sort out the other beaters who were becoming restless now that it was their time to show us why they should be on the team.

"Hey, Rose," Rich beamed as he drew level with me. "Did you see me?"

I laughed. "Of course I did, you were amazing. You seriously stumped Dom."

"Really?" he looked surprised by this. I nodded my head – Dom was probably the best Chaser at Hogwarts, just don't tell Al I said that because he thought he was the best. "Here come the beaters, I better get over to the hoops."

Rich smiled as he flew off to his new position as keeper for the first time and I waited patiently in the air on the middle of the Quidditch pitch for Al to decide what to do for the next part of the Quidditch tryouts.

He started off by asking them all to fly once around the pitch as fast as they could, the first half through would go through to more tryouts. It seemed a little harsh to do this at first but there were just so many of them, ranging from First Years to Seventh Years, that it was necessary. Besides, like Al explained to everyone afterwards, if the beaters weren't quick their teammate could be hit by a bludger before they got to it.

The half that went through consisted of around fourteen people. Al asked me to split them into twos whilst he went to talk to Rich about what was going to happen in the next part of the tryouts.

I flew towards them and organised each person so that they had someone else as their pair and so that they had a beaters bat firmly gripped in one hand. When I reached the last pair and finally took in their appearance I was shocked to see familiar red hair.

"Lily?" I asked and the figure moved their head up so that they were looking towards me and not at the floor like they had previously been doing.

"Hey, Rose," she replied, looking too green to be normal.

"You nervous, Lils?"

She smiled weakly at me and admitted, "A little."

"Don't worry," I told her and handed her a bat. "You'll do great."

The beaters went in their groups of two against another two, one group had to defend Dom and the other had to defend Hugo.

The biggest surprise came when Lily, seeing the oncoming bludger that her partner did not, pulled herself in a tight U-turn, shot towards Hugo and pulled herself between him and the bludger within the space of about three seconds. Not only that, but she hit the bludger away with enough force that it sped towards the hoops at the other end of the pitch. The guy she had been paired with, Sam Nelson, a Sixth Year, reached it in time to hit it back at Dom and pass the quaffle to Hugo as he approached the hoops resulting in Hugo scoring past Rich, the quaffle missing his fingers by a few millimetres – the first goal scored against him since he became our keeper.

At the end of the beaters tryouts Lily and Sam were announced to be the new beaters; both could hit the ball hard enough and this, combined with Lily's speed and Sam's passing skills and the ability to place himself in the most useful places around the Pitch, was exactly what Al had been looking for.

* * *

><p><strong>Scorpius' POV<strong>

I sat down at one of the benches near to the front of the stand so that I could watch the tryouts better without someone's head in the way.

It would be interesting to see how the Gryffindors held their tryouts; the Slytherin tryouts were usually just about who could beat the most people up with their bat or who had the most expensive broom. I think I liked the Gryffindor way better, not that I would ever admit that.

_Well maybe to Rose,_ I thought and, even though regretting it immediately, I knew it was true. _Merlin, that girl could get any information out of me if she only asked, no matter what it was._ I would probably even tell her my deepest, darkest secrets if she asked me, and that was scary to know (mostly because it was true but also because they were things I hadn't even told Al).

Whilst the tryouts for keeper began I tried to listen to what Al was saying but, soon, I found myself having to strain to hear him over the noise of a few guys in my year who were sitting closely behind me.

I tried to ignore them as best as I could. Being a Malfoy didn't really mean that people treated you badly but if you put one foot out of line, maybe said something that you shouldn't have, messed up slightly like everyone else, then you were suddenly 'that Malfoy boy' who everybody thought was a mistake or a spawn of the devil. Sometimes it just got old and tiring.

My attention was caught by the name I heard next in the conversation behind me.

"What about that Lily Weasley?" one boy asked. It was the name 'Weasley' that caught my attention.

"She's a little too girly, doesn't play any sports."

"No, isn't that her? Up by Rose?"

"Oh yeah, maybe she would be worth dating..."

"Dating? Lily Weasley?"

"It's Lily _Potter_," one of them, who I recognised as being called Daniel, told the others.

"Whatever."

"No," I heard Peter announce to them all as if he owed them. "I really want a Weasley. They seem much more... mysterious."

"How about Rose Weasley?"

I felt myself tense but didn't turn my head for fear that it would be too obvious that I was listening to their conversation.

"Rose Weasley... she _is _quite pretty, I suppose," he sighed. "But I already tried her. She's quite weak though, I could probably break her within the next week and she'd be all mine for the taking."

I could literally feel my anger bubbling up inside me.

_Who was this guy and what the hell did he think was so amazing about himself that he could just get off with any girl he liked?_

Okay, so being Scorpius Malfoy did give me a reputation of 'complete girl jumper', which basically meant that I had been out with a lot of girls only once. This was, obviously, not true. I'd had a couple of girlfriends, one who was very controlling throughout my Third Year, two in my Fourth year and another in my Sixth who I had dated for about five months. I had been attracted to these girls, sort of, but none of them were very interesting to talk to, only wanting to be with me because I was from a powerful, wealthy family or because it was immensely cool to date me.

Peter continued to talk about Rose as if she was a prize to achieve by the end of the month, instead of an actual person with feelings.

"She's got a good body, through Quidditch I suppose, which is really what I'm looking for."

"What do you reckon then, Pete?"

"Yeah," he replied vaguely. "She's pretty good for a short term thing."

"What other type of thing is there?" one of his friends asked and they all laughed.

I'd had enough.

I stood up, immediately drawing attention to myself, and turned around so that my back was to the Quidditch tryouts and I was facing Peter and his group of friends. Peter was the only one I was concerned about.

"Shut up!" I yelled at him.

For a moment he was shocked, so were all the others who sat in our stand, so I used this to yell some more.

"You cannot just go around talking about and treating girls as if they're pieces of meat. You aren't the best thing in the world and you don't control anyone so stop being a complete git and _get a life_!"

Peter just stared up at me for a moment, his face blank, and then he stood up. His head was roughly level with my nose, which didn't bother me in the slightest, but he was standing much too close to be normal and it was starting to irritate me already.

"Heard our little conversation about Rose Weasley, did you, Malfoy?" he sneered up at me. His friends laughed, looking between each other as if they knew something that I didn't.

"If you say one more thing about her, Maroon, I'll personally shove you off this stand," I threatened him.

"Malfoy, I could be thrown off this stand a hundred times and I'd still look better than you do," he told me and I remembered that I was covered in mud. To be honest, I didn't care if I was dirty and a mess, as long as Rose was laughing I was happy to look like this.

"You know what," I tried to breath through my anger. "I can't be bothered with you're ego anymore."

I pulled my body forwards and slammed Peter into the wooden board at the back of the stands. We both hit the floor hard, me sitting on him so that he couldn't move, and my head started to spin. I ignored the feeling and pulled my fist back before slamming it into the side of Peter's face repeatedly. I'm pretty sure I heard a crack when it collided with his jaw but I didn't hesitate with the punches. He deserved every one of them.

Peter managed to release one of his hands from under his body and, without any warning, I felt it slam into the front of my face and, accompanied by a loud crack, my nose broke.

The pain was nothing compared to my anger, or the amount of blood pouring from my nose. I continued punching Peter anywhere I could reach – the face, the chest, the groin, the leg – and it really helped me release my anger.

_Oh man,_ I realised that this was probably not the best thing for Head Boy to be doing, beating up another student. That wasn't what concerned me, actually. _Rose is going to murder me._

* * *

><p><strong>Rose's POV<strong>_  
><em>

The new, complete Quidditch team lined up in the air, surrounded by those who had tried out but not made the team. It was now reaching lunch time and I was starting to feel extremely hungry after missing breakfast.

"Thank you all for coming out here and you were all brilliant," Al told them all. "Just because you didn't make the team it doesn't mean you aren't a good Quidditch player. In fact, you have all been really—"

Al's sentence was drowned out as yelling started to come from the stands, people started to turn away from the tryouts and look towards a bundle of colours in the middle of one of them that appeared to be moving.

The sun moved so that I could clearly see what was going on without squinting and I immediately groaned, causing all those in the air to turn to stare at me.

"Rose?" Hugo asked.

"Merlin, that boy had better not have broken his legs because I am _not_ letting him off rounds tonight." I told them all and, sighing dramatically, I sped towards the stand, the others following closely behind me.

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it. :)<strong>


	7. Quidditch Can Be Violent Part 2

**Gosh, I hadn't realised it had been so long since I'd last updated this. Everything's just been so manic at the moment that I blink and two weeks have just flown by! The only good thing is that I'm FINALLY going to see Deathly Hallow P2 in two days! Thank Merlin - Haven't we all been waiting forever? It's going to be so sad though. Anyway, why am I rambling? Thank you so so much to everyone who's taken an interest in this story, especially if you took the time to leave a quick review.**

**I hope you enjoy Part 2 of Quidditch Can Be Violent.  
><strong>

* * *

><p>I reached the stands in just enough time to watch Scorpius get punched in the stomach by Peter, lean backwards, grabbing his sunglasses from the bench that he had obviously just been sitting on, and slam them into the side of Peter's face.<p>

His expensive glasses snapped at the same time as Peter's wand did, which he had just recovered from the floor, attempting to throw a few hexes at Scorpius.

Scorpius realised at this moment that he was, in fact, a wizard and, holding Peter still by the front of his shirt in one hand and repeatedly moving him back and forwards so that he slammed into the wooden panelling at the back of the stands, reached into his jeans pocket with the other hand to find his wand.

"You _git,_ Maroon!" Scorpius yelled over all the cheering of the people watching around them. "You come near her again and _I'll kill you_, and I'll enjoy it." He threatened and I was pretty sure that I saw every other guy who could hear him sigh with relief that they weren't Peter right now.

"Scor!" Al shouted at him, catching up with me by the stands. "Get off him, whatever he did isn't worth your position as Head Boy!"

"It. Is." Scorpius called back between kicks to Peter's legs as he still attempted to find his wand in his pocket.

He finally managed to get hold of his wand and point it at a terrified looking Peter, who looked as if he had just about given up fighting back.

"Scorpius!" I reprimanded him and he immediately turned to look at me, unlike with Al. "Don't you dare curse him!"

He glanced at me for a moment. It was all quiet as everyone waited to see what was happening, trying to make sense of the situation. "Why not?" he finally asked.

"Because you're _Head Boy_!" I reminded him, my tone evidently suggesting my disbelief at his question, dismounting my broom and hurrying over to the two boys in the middle of an open circle surrounded by students. "You're supposed to be setting a good example."

"Come _on, _Rose. You know you want to punch him for what he did to you," Scorpius muttered to me.

Apparently it wasn't quiet enough because Hugo, who had caught up with me on his own broom by now, demanded loudly. "What did he do to you, Rose?"

I stuttered. I hadn't even wanted to tell my family, I felt that it was too personal, and I wasn't open to having intimate conversations with people, but now it seemed as if they were demanding to know in front of everyone else in my year as well and all of Gryffindor.

"He's lying," I heard Peter weakly mumble from his position now lying on the floor. "I didn't do anything to Rose."

"Stop it!" Scorpius lost his temper again and hauled Peter into a standing position. "Stop trying to twist everything around like that!"

"Scorpius..." I whispered. I didn't want him to get into trouble for my problems. "Stop this, please. Think rationally... this isn't goingto get you anywhere. _Please_ stop... for me..."

His eyes locked with mine, his expression somehow trying to judge mine, and, whilst he did so, Peter pushed himself away from Scorpius and moved round to stand next to me.

I flinched.

Scorpius stepped between us quickly.

"Hey, Rose, how are you?" Peter asked weakly, putting up a pretence of being back to his sweet self, acting as if he was innocent to everybody. My eyes narrowed but before I could say anything back Scorpius beat me to it, finally ending this scene.

"Push off, Maroon, before my fist meets your face... again," Scorpius added as an afterthought and I noticed that his knuckles were red from bleeding. Looking back to Peter I realised that it was probably Peters blood on Scorpius' hand.

"What have you got here, Weasley," Peter snapped suddenly, dropping all pretence, still only addressing me. "Got yourself a little bodyguard?" he teased mockingly.

I didn't answer, leaving the talking to Scorpius. "I said push off," he threatened again, his voice deadly. Peter looked like he wanted to hide for a split second, frightened of Scorpius' venomous tone, but quickly hid it. He was seriously pushing his luck, his face was already showing bruises and both his eyes were black.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," he waved vaguely in Scorpius' direction as if he had the conversation under control, even though his voice wavered slightly, dismissing him altogether. "See you around, Weasley."

"No you won't, Maroon," Scorpius yelled at him and, in one quick motion punched him right in the nose. For a moment I was shocked until Scorpius took my hand to lead me away, Peter clutching his face to stop the blood.

"Come on, Rose," Scorpius tried to pull me away from Peter and I realised that this was my chance to get, somewhat, even.

_Stop being sweet, kind, caring, push-over Rose Weasley and handle your own problems for once_, I heard myself say in a moment of bravery. Maybe I was destined for Gryffindor for a reason.

"No," I told Scorpius firmly, stopping dead in my tracks and pulled my hand out of his grip, marching back over to Peter. "You are a selfish little boy, Peter, and you don't even deserve to have friends!" I snapped at him in front of everybody. "You don't deserve anything as far as I'm concerned. And, you know what? The only thing that is more annoying than your name is your face, so I think I'll just rearrange that for you," I spat and then, before I could take it back, I slapped him hard across the face, a red hand print marking his cheek, mixing with the blood from Scorpius' punch, and kicked him in the shins.

Peter toppled over, literally, and hit the wooden floor hard. I stood over him, Scorpius by my side and hissed furiously. "You even come within an inch of me again and I'll personally hex you to where Voldemort's soul rots."

Kicking him once again in the shins and pulling a slightly terrified looking Scorpius away by the hand, I picked up my broom again and made my way out of the stands.

I could hear everybody else whispering between each other and my family calling after me but I ignored them all. Whatever they said about this later, I didn't care – Peter had deserved that. And I felt a lot better.

Silence fell between me and Scorpius; he played with his broken sunglasses in the hand that wasn't holding mine.

"I'm sorry you broke your sunglasses," I muttered.

He actually laughed at that. "Rose, I broke more than my sunglasses," he told me. I looked at him enquiringly and, for the first time, noticed the continuous flow of blood from his broken nose.

"Oh my... Merlin...," I struggled for words, watching him smirking at me, amused.

"It's not that bad, Rose, it just hurts a little," he assured me.

"Not that bad..." I repeated, dazed. "Scorpius, your nose is _broken_." I quickly switched from shocked to over-reacting mode. "We should get you to the Hospital and get it fixed right away. It could get infected and I read somewhere that the longer you leave a broken nose the more likely it won't heal properly with magic—"

"Rose!" He waved his hand that was holding his sunglasses in front of my face to shut me up. "Calm down, I could probably just fix it, but I don't really trust myself with something involving my face. I'll go to the Hospital Wing, don't worry."

I followed his sunglasses with my eyes and then noticed him looking at me. "They were expensive?" I asked guiltily. Of course they were - everything he owned was expensive.

He laughed again at this. "About sixty galleons," he told me and I thought I would faint again.

_"Sixty galleons?"_ I asked, completely shocked. I hadn't thought they were _that_ expensive.

_What sane person would pay sixty galleons for sunglasses?_ I tried to reason with myself, then realised the answer.

_Scorpius Malfoy would._

"Yes," he assured me again. "But enough about my sunglasses, I can buy more of them, or attempt to _reparo_ them _again_. Either way, they're unimportant, are _you_ feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," I told him.

"Uh huh, _sure_ you are... now," I scared me a little how well he'd gauged my emotions. "But what about in five seconds when your family comes asking questions?"

"What about it?" I asked him.

"You're still not going to tell them?" he asked me, seeming shocked by this. I shook my head.

"Merlin, your nose is _really_ bleeding, Scorpius," I tried to tell him but he just waved that comment away.

"Rose, you _have_ to tell them!" He practically pleaded with me whilst I fished in my pocket for a tissue. "It'll just make things so much easier if you—what are you doing?" he asked, finishing his sentence with a completely different question.

I had stopped walking and faced him. "Stay still." I muttered to him and leaned forwards to wipe away the blood on his face.

It was a strange moment. It felt, on one hand, completely normal to be this close to Scorpius (even if it did make my heart race a little), tending to his wounds, but, on the other hand, I felt a little confused and... Scared, I suppose. _What was happening to me? _Not that long ago Scorpius had been 'Scorpius Malfoy' – the boy who mocked me every few seconds and who I couldn't stand to be near for more than ten minutes. And now he was 'Scorpius Malfoy' – the boy who had beaten someone up and been beaten up for me, who caught me every time I fell and who I felt like I could talk to about anything.

_Seriously messed up, Rose,_ that oh-so-helpful part of my brain told me.

Luckily it was interrupted by quite a few loud voices, which I recognised immediately as my family. Nobody else in Hogwarts went round in groups that big.

"What, in the name of Dumbledore, was that all about?" Alice exclaimed, as her, Al, Lily, Dom, Hugo, Angie, Fred, Roxanne, Molly, Lucy and even Louis approached us, running.

I shook my head, "Nothing."

"Come on, we're not that stupid. What could Peter do that would really be that bad? He's really quite sweet if you think about it," Dom told me.

"I try not to," I snapped at Dom.

"He... he attacked Rose," Scorpius told all of them.

I grimaced. _'Attacked' didn't seem like the right word, and yet... I couldn't think of any other._

"What?"

"No way!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Attacked?

"I'll kill him!"

"Scorpius!" I shoved him slightly and he flinched. "What did you do that for?"

"Sorry, but they have a right to know," he replied as I continued to wipe away the blood on his face. "That twat should be hated by everyone, Rosie, and they're your family, after all."

I sighed at him, frustrated, "Fine!" I gave in.

"Wait," Hugo stopped our conversation. "He _what_?"

"He, quite literally, attacked her. I swear, one minute everything was fine and the next he was pushing her up against the wall and had his hand up her shirt," Scorpius fumed.

I blushed. "He didn't have his hand up my shirt," I muttered weakly.

"He did," Scorpius told me, the boys looking murderous and the girls looking shocked. I blinked in surprise at this new knowledge.

_He had?_ I guess I was so wrapped up in not kissing Peter that I didn't notice anything else going on around me.

"It was disgusting. He's so... so..." I watched Scorpius at a loss for words. It was so unlike him. Scorpius Malfoy always knew what he was going to say, always had everything planned out and ready so that nothing went wrong for him and he was always immaculate and flawless, and never... well, never like how he was now: careless and a total mess.

_To be honest, it was kind of sexy. _

Merlin, had I just thought that? Okay, I may as well tell the truth. Yep, I had just said that because... well, Scorpius _was_ beautiful and charming and proper.

In his own way, obviously.

_What was wrong with me lately!_

I quickly tried to steer my thoughts away from other images like this by joining the conversation again. However, this only caused images of the night in the library to come back to me and I quickly wished I was seeing Scorpius shirtless again like I had dreamt of last night.

_Not that I dream about that often, or anything._

"He tried to kiss me, and he... he kind of crushed me against the wall and-and..." I stopped and shuddered, remembering the other night vividly with this new knowledge that Scorpius had told me. I felt tears start to well up behind my eyes, as much as I tried to stop them, and looked down hastily at the floor.

Scorpius pulled me into a hug; I already stood really close to him, stroking my muddy hair and whispering that I was safe in my ear. It felt nice, better than nice, even, to have him there, next to me, when I felt vulnerable and scared, to look after me and trust to keep me safe, so I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him back. The others were silent.

"Are you alright, Flower?" Al asked half-teasingly, calling me the nickname that my dad called me, his voice soft and gentle. I saw Alice, who was standing next to him, practically melt from hearing his emotions.

I pulled away from Scorpius and sniffed, wiping my nose on my sleeve. "Thanks, Al, but I'm fine."

He nodded. "Okay, by the way, I'm going to get to Maroon after this and I'm going to _kick his arse_."

I laughed shakily as Hugo, Scorpius and Dom all agreed forcefully.

"I'm going to crush his fingers until he can't feel them," Dom warned menacingly.

"I think he'll find that, _perhaps_, he'll receive a few howlers in the post soon from _a lot _of angry people..." Alice trailed off, leaving us all slightly scared of her.

"If he lives through the weekend," came Hugo's voice and we were all shocked from the emotion that bubbled up inside of him. Hugo was possibly the worst of all us, though. He rarely got angry but when he did, Merlin, it was like listening to _both_ our parents screaming. We all knew to stay out of his way.

To change the subject quickly, Al ignored the others who were still absorbed in their own murderous thoughts, turned to me and asked, "What are you doing now?"

"Staying away from Peter," Scorpius muttered from next to me, his arm was still flung over my shoulders.

"Merlin, I forgot," I exclaimed as I looked at his face and then back to the bloodied tissue in my hands, gently placing it back on Scorpius' face. "Hospital Wing."

"That was some punch, Scor," Al told his best friend as we all continued heading up to the castle.

"Erm, thanks," Scorpius muttered.

"You punched him more than once," Louis commented helpfully.

"You are _so_ in trouble with McGonagall," Molly told Scorpius.

"I know," he sighed.

"Oh, no," I exclaimed sadly as I realised something terrible. "What if I get in trouble for slapping him—"

"And kicking him," Lily commented.

"And threatening him," Dom added as well. I glared at them both before continuing.

"What if I get given detention? I've never had detention before. _What if McGonagall takes away my Head Girl badge?"_ I think I might have gotten a little hysterical.

"Well," Scorpius started calmly. "She doesn't have to know."

"Peter will _say_ that I kicked him, though," I reasoned with him.

"And I'll just tell McGonagall that he's lying and that it was me who kicked him."

I looked up at Scorpius, "You'd say that?" he nodded and we both stared at each other for a moment.

"Oh, Merlin," Lucy commented suddenly. "Malfoy, you look totally... err, well..."

"He's a total mess, Lucy," I told her, turning away from Scorpius. To be honest, I didn't know what to say in reply to his suggestion - I could see in his eyes that he wouldn't accept 'no' for an answer... I'd just have to come up with a way to repay him later.

"Gee, thanks, Rose," Scorpius retorted sarcastically, lighting the mood.

"Anytime," I smiled. "You can repay me from these kind comments with expensive gifts," I told him jokingly. The others all laughed.

"Hey, I might have to get back to you with that," he joked. "I still have to buy new sunglasses." He held up his smashed ones that only just clung together.

"Can't you just fix them with _Reparo_?" Lily asked.

"No," Scorpius sighed. "This is only half of them, the rest of it's in tiny pieces back up in the stands, and, besides, they're supposed to be immune to breakages so _Reparo_ doesn't work on them very well after a while."

As if to prove his point he took out his wand and tried to spell. The glass pieces fidgeted, tried to connect together, then snapped again rather pathetically.

"The sellers should probably fix that..." Angie commented.

"And, Merlin!" Lily added. "How expensive were those glasses?"

"Sixty galleons," I told them all in disbelief and Scorpius pretend-glared at me.

"Must you tell _everyone?_" He asked, incredulous. I nodded.

We continued to mock Scorpius all the way up to the Hospital Wing like nothing was wrong but I was still holding the piece of tissue to his broken nose, afraid to fix it myself in case I lost concentration and he had to spend the rest of his life as a Goblin or half a Hippogriff or something. As much as I fretted over him, the other were fretting ocver me: I could feel the eyes of at least one of my family on me all the time, even if they did look away when I glanced at them.

We entered the Hospital Wing, all thirteen of us attracting the attention of Madame Pomfrey within a record time of about two second.

She hurried over to us and greeted Scorpius by taking a step back and informing him bluntly, "Dear me, Mr Malfoy, you look hideous."

* * *

><p>September ended quickly after that with a normal couple of weeks – I went to classes, studied hard in the library and just hung around with my family and Angie, Alice and Scorpius in the evenings that I wasn't busy.<p>

I had taken care to avoid Peter as much as possible but the precaution was unnecessary because he stayed away from me. Those hundred or so howlers sent to him by Alice over breakfast probably had something to do with it but it could also have something to do with the death-glares all my cousins sent him daily, the fact that Dom _had_ crushed all the bones in his right hand during their Care of Magical Creatures lesson (she told McGonagall it was 'accidental'), the attack from twenty or so bludgers which miraculously escaped their confinements one Saturday when Peter was nearby, that potion he had unknowingly taken with his lunch that turned him into a large ball of pink and green hair and caused him to sing the number one hit 'A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love' by Celestina Warbeck every time he opened his mouth and, finally (my personal favourite), that charm that _somebody_ had placed on him so that whenever Peter sat down he felt the sudden need to stand up again, which was tremendous fun to watch every lesson and meal time for two weeks, until he figured out how to stop it.

Apart from this, things had kept me busy. Head Girl duties also took up a lot of time. I had only been on duty for rounds twice after that incident in the Quidditch stands but not with Scorpius.

He had been temporarily demoted by Professor McGonagall, which basically meant that he wasn't allowed his Head Boy badge back until he had done enough detention for her to feel satisfactory about whether he had learnt his lesson or not. Luckily she hadn't expelled him then and there after marching up to the Hospital Wing a few minutes after we had arrived. Apparently Scorpius' parents weren't too pleased with him after they received a letter home about his behaviour, but they only stopped his allowance for a week and refused to let his sister write to him during that time also. Scorpius told me that he was only upset about not being able to speak to his sister; anything else didn't really matter to him.

I felt incredibly guilty about his temporary demotion every time I saw him because he had been demoted because he was defending me. I had told Professor McGonagall this to no effect. Scorpius had even told McGonagall that I had had nothing to do with the fighting. She had simply told me that "Perhaps Mr Malfoy shouldn't have been quite so gallant,", sending me a quick knowing smile, and then ignored my other protests.

The news of the 'dance' that we were hosting around Christmas time had spread almost as fast as the news about Peter's beating had. Everybody had actually responded well to this idea, despite what my friends thought about it originally. The hype about it had practically doubled as the notice for the first Hogsmeade weekend was posted in early October. Like normal, it had been scheduled for Halloween.

Even though we didn't patrol on rounds together at the moment, Scorpius and I still met in one corner of the library most evenings (I told the others that I was busy studying, which I usually did, too) and just talked like we had done before, like the first time on rounds.

It was good to be able to vent my anger or share my happiness with someone who wouldn't immediately go to the other members of my family and tell them all my secrets, as if a secret was still a secret if kept within our family. Because it wasn't.

I sat in the library one evening, quietly reading a book that I had found in the restricted section entitled _'Fearing Death'_, which was informing me exactly why some people were afraid of dying when it was promptly yanked out of my hands by Scorpius as he sat down in the seat next to me.

"_'Fearing Death'_?" He asked, reading from the front cover. "Okay, Rose, you've officially gone creepy."

I snatched it back, shoving the book into my bag and kicking it far under the table. "It's not creepy, it's interesting. And there's a sequel," I added with mock enthusiasm.

"Joy," he muttered sarcastically.

"It's called _'Conquering Death'_, but it's not actually about conquering death, it's about why people _want_ to conquer death. And there's whole three sections on Voldemort and my uncle and parents," I told him.

"And you want to read it to learn more about why Voldemort did what he did with Horcruxes and how it affected your uncle?" he asked, leaning forwards on his elbows on the table.

"Exactly," I copied him and turned my head to the right to see him clearly. "Do you think I'm a freak now?" I asked.

He chuckled. "No, just interested in the past, that's all," his voice turned cold.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing...," he muttered and then met my eyes with his. "People change from how they were in the past, Rose."

"You're thinking about you're dad," I stated softly.

He nodded and answered even though it wasn't a question and I wasn't asking him to tell me anything. "Some people still see him as evil or still think he believes in Voldemort and all this pureblood stuff but he's not like that, Rose, he's just like every other parent... every other parent with a Dark Mark branded into his arm, that is."

"Scorpius," I whispered to him gently, placing my hand over his. "You don't have to tell me."

"I think I'd feel better if I told someone," he whispered back and looked at me as if asking whether it was OK if I was that person.

"He loved his parents and he was just doing it for them, he felt like he didn't have a choice and he was just really young – younger than we are – that's the only reason why he did it. I mean, he could have been killed if he hadn't followed Voldemort's wishes. You know, some people say that he still calls Voldemort 'The Dark Lord', as if to suggest that he still follows Voldemort, still likes his ideas, but he doesn't. He calls him 'Voldemort' like everybody else, or 'Tom Riddle' sometimes, when he's particularly angry about it."

Scorpius looked up at me, his gaze having previously fallen to the table where our hands were intertwined. "I'm glad he changed, Rose, otherwise I would have _never_ been allowed to talk to you."

I noticed he meant _me_, specifically, not the others in my family too. Scorpius would not have been able to talk to any of us if his parents were still prejudiced against half-bloods or muggle-borns, but he was specifically talking about me this time. The realisation warmed me.

"I'm glad too," I whispered back.

He sighed, "Sorry, I've probably just really depressed you."

"Don't worry about it," I told him, smiling. "You can talk to me."

He smiled back and then became much happier, "Let's play our game."

"Alright, you can go first," I sighed and closed my eyes.

* * *

><p>I entered the Great Hall one afternoon in the second week of October to find that Lucy, Angie, Alice, Lily and Roxanne were talking about what they were going to wear to the dance over lunch. I joined them, sitting next to an incredibly-bored looking Fred who seemed like he wished he hadn't sat there but couldn't get up in case it drew attention to him and he was drawn into the conversation about clothes and shopping.<p>

"So I eventually decided on silver because it goes with everything and I could check out all the accessories in Hogsmeade and just pick my favourite without having to worry about the colours clashing," Alice was telling them all.

Within the last few weeks she had become a permanent part of our group, everybody loved her because she got on so well with them all. I could see why Al liked her, because it was _so_ obvious that he did - she looked kind of mysterious with her unusual violet eyes and dark, today curly, hair and full fringe.

"Did you find a date yet, Alice?" I asked her as I reached across the table for some potatoes.

"Nope," she sighed sadly. "Not yet."

"Just ask him," Angie sighed too, this time slightly annoyed.

"W...what?"

"Al," Angie elaborated. "Just ask him."

"Who says I want to go with Al?" Alice asked shyly, trying, but failing, to defend herself and scoff.

"It's so _obvious_," I piped up, causing a few faces to stare back at me.

"See," Lily added. "Even Rose has noticed."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked, hurt by her tone. _Even me?_

"I meant that you're the one who's here less because you're always studying or on rounds and whatnot, but you've still noticed," Lily explained.

"Oh."

"How is rounds going, Rose?" Alice asked me, no doubt jumping at the chance to change the conversation. I decided to help her out a little.

"Okay, I suppose," I reasoned. "Actually it's pretty boring now I have to patrol with James Falcon,"

"Scorpius still on parole?" Roxanne joked.

"Yeah," I sulked.

"He can't be _that_ interesting," Fred joined us. They all looked at me with raised eyebrows.

"No, no, that's not what I meant," I stuttered back at them all, Fred was twisting my words into something more than what I had said. I tried not to blush. "I just meant that he was... y'know, nice to talk to... when I didn't want my whole family to know how I was feeling..."

There was an awkward moment in which none of us spoke. I think they had all just realised how much more Scorpius and I had become friends since the start of the year.

I was saved, yet again, by the arrival of Al and Scorpius, who both looked annoyed at something but were laughing and joking in a way that I knew meant that they were making fun of one of their teachers.

"Bloody Longbottom," Scorpius muttered and Al laughed.

"What's happened now?" Fred asked them.

"Uncle Nev is moving us all around in Herbology," Al informed us and we all groaned. "He said that we should be able to work with people we don't know very well as well us our friends."

Whilst they all muttered and grumbled about being moved around in Herbology Scorpius caught my eye and smiled at me as if there was something I should be getting. I stared back at him and we had a silent conversation with our eyes. I looked very confused, shaking my head and looking baffled whilst he simply smiled and stared at me until understanding dawned on me and I noticed what was different about him.

Interrupting the conversation around me, I jumped to my feet, glancing from Scorpius' face to his shiny badge on his chest and back to his face again. "You're back?" I asked. He nodded, beaming.

Without thinking I jolted forwards and flung my arms around him. He responded after a moment, probably from shock, and hugged me back, chuckling in my ear.

As we pulled apart he told me, "McGonagall decided that it was time the school had their Head Boy again."

"Just like that?" I asked.

"Well..." He hesitated and then blurted out quickly. "I _may_ have suggested that she didn't want to put too much stress on you, what with NEWTs and Head Girl duties and everything. Especially considering the amount of studying you do."

I slapped him on the arm playfully and we smiled at each other.

"Which reminds me..." I told him mysteriously after a moment and held up a finger with one hand, signalling for him to give me a moment, and dived into my school bag, producing a large, rolled-up piece of parchment tied together with a blue bow.

I handed it to Scorpius, watched by the rest of my friends, who looked thoroughly confused. "What's this?" he asked after a moment.

"It's a present," I informed him.

"I know that," he muttered back.

"For Claire..." I expanded slightly.

"Oh," Scorpius actually looked a little shocked. "Thanks Rose. But now I feel kind of bad, you shouldn't have. You haven't even met Claire."

"I know enough about her to buy her a birthday present," I told him firmly. "Besides, it was something I happened to come across at the right time."

"Err...," Al said to get our attention, the others were all staring at us like our conversation made no sense. Actually, it probably hadn't. I'm not sure whether even Al knew Scorpius had a younger sister. The next words out of his mouth confirmed that theory. "Who's Claire?"

"Scorpius' sister," I told them all.

Al turned to his best friend. "You have a sister?" Scorpius nodded. "How come you haven't told me this before?"

"I dunno..." Scorpius replied quietly. "Never came up, I guess."

"What's she called?" Roxanne asked.

"Clarinda,"

There was silence until Al asked, seemingly very confused and, most likely, a little hurt that Scorpius hadn't told him. "How come _Rose_ knows about her and _I _don't?"

"I don't know... Rose asked, I suppose, so I told her," Scorpius answered him fairly and we smiled at each other, remembering some of the funny things we had asked each other. We had come up with a new game where the other person could ask you as many questions as possible in a minute and you had to answer them with only the truth.

"So, Scorpius..." Lucy asked slowly and we both snapped out of our 'happy bubbles' and turned back to my family, slightly embarrassed by our blatant show of friendship. "I was wondering what you were doing for a date to the dance."

"Me?" he stuttered, completely shock covering his face. Lucy nodded, smiling at him. "Erm, I wasn't actually planning to go."

"Why not?" Al asked him first.

"You know..." he muttered, glancing at some of the girls in the hall. "Process might kill me."

We all laughed at this, except Lucy, who looked slightly put out, and Al, who looked annoyed at his best friend. It was common knowledge that Scorpius had a lot of lady admirers in the school (and outside of it, to be honest) but he hadn't dated anyone since the middle of last year.

"I thought we were going to go together..." Al muttered.

We all turned to stare at him with raised eyebrows. Apparently he hadn't realised how that had sounded. It finally dawned on him, probably after he played back what he had just said in his mind.

"No, no," he amended. "I meant as _friends," _he pointedly looked at Fred and Roxanne who were laughing the hardest, most likely getting their sense of humour from their father, "and just mess about."

"Alright," Scorpius agreed. "That does sound like fun."

"You're not looking for a date?" Alice spluttered to Al, apparently unable to hold her question in any longer.

He looked shocked and confused for a moment and then tried to find the right answer. "No... I mean, yes, of course... well, not like desperately or anything – not that I'm desperate or anything... I mean, I wouldn't mind going if I was... y'know, asked by someone – or asked someone, I meant... " he finally stopped talking.

I looked over to Alice to see that she looked as if she was about to cry. That was really strange, Alice was always happy all the time, I don't think I'd ever seen her cry once and now she was on the verge of tears simply because Al had said that he wasn't looking for a date.

I coughed, sending the attention of everyone, but Alice and Al, who kept staring at Alice, onto me. "We should get going to Herbology..." I muttered, grabbing Alice's bag with mine and ushering her out of the hall with me and Angie before she could cry.

"T-thank... thank you, Rose..." she managed to say before her sobs took over and I couldn't understand anything else she said.

Alice collapsed on the floor outside the front door of Hogwarts and Angie and I sat either side of her whilst she cried for a couple of minutes. I shivered; it was freezing cold and I had forgotten my coat. Pulling my wand out of my pocket I quickly performed a spell which warmed me up temporarily.

"I'm sorry..." Alice mumbled into her hand. "It's stupid getting this upset. I just... I just thought that maybe, there might have been a chance, that he liked me."

"He _does _like you, Alice," Angie tried to reason with her. "I bet if you asked _him_ he'd jump at the chance to go with you."

"Maybe Angie's right," I told her, squeezing her shoulder. "Maybe you should just ask Al instead of the other way around."

"I think I'd rather just not go," Alice confessed quietly, her whisper even quieter when the wind violently whipped it away from me. Her voice was so timid, so unmotivated, that Angie and I silently agreed to let her be for now.

We stood up and made over way quickly to the Greenhouses where we had Herbology as our first lesson after lunch, trying our hardest to make Alice laugh. It looked as if it would rain very soon so, instead of waiting outside, we found our class already inside the Greenhouse, people sitting in different places than before.

I resumed our previous conversation as I stood with Alice at her desk. "At least go with me, I won't have a date but I'm still going, mostly to follow Dom around and trip her over, but you're welcome to join me." I smiled when Alice, thankfully, laughed, and Dom sent me a glare as we reached her.

"I think I will then, if you don't have a date," she reasoned.

"I won't," I was clear on that.

"How do you know?"

"Have I _ever_ been known to have a date?"

"How about Billy Johnson two years ago?"

"Have I ever been known to have a _sane_ date?" I amended and Alice giggled beside me whilst putting on gloves. "And to anything other than Uncle Neville's _'Slug Club Reunited' _that one time?"

Scorpius called me over to his table on the opposite side of the room before Alice could even answer me. I rolled my eyes at him, which only Alice caught, picked up my bag and wandered over to him.

"Yes, Mr Malfoy?" I teased.

"Wanna be my partner today?" he asked me, smiling sweetly.

"Why...?" I cautioned. "Can you not be bothered to do any work today?"

He pretended to look shocked that I would suggest such a thing. "Actually, I thought that maybe you wanted to be saved from working with Billy for the rest of the year."

I turned quickly and scanned the room. Sure enough, the only seat left available was next to Billy Johnson, because Dom had snatched my seat beside Alice to avoid it, with the exception of the one besides Scorpius.

There was nothing wrong with Billy Johnson as such; most people just avoided him because he had a tendency to get strangely attached to you within one lesson working together and follow you about until you threatened that you'd raise Dumbledore's corpse and animate it to haunt him.

_Not that that ever happened or anything._

I beamed at Scorpius and took the seat next to him, "I'd love to."

_Oh,_ I thought. _How things had changed._

* * *

><p><strong>Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it enough to review? What do you think is coming up and any predictions on dates for the dance?<strong>_  
><em>


	8. Happy Hogsmeade Day

**Hey, you guys. Can I just say: you're all wonderful. You've responded to this so kindly and enthusiastically. I'm gald you're enjoying it. :) Here's chapter 8.**

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><p>The day of the first Hogsmeade trip arrived on October the 31st and was greeted with, as usual, a very positive atmosphere on the morning of such day.<p>

I practically skipped down to breakfast that morning with all the excitement. There must have been something in the air because I even passed a group of giggling and gossiping Slytherin girls in the year below me who were attempting to comment on each others outfits, all at the same time.

"Hello, good morning, _salut_," I greeted my friends and most of my family (the ones that were eating breakfast together) eagerly when I joined them all at the Gryffindor table for breakfast. Only Hugo, Al and Dom looked comfortable by the French, the others looked at me like I was crazy. Or maybe those looks were because I was overly cheerful?

"Hey, Rose," Angie greeted me. "Up for some shopping today, then?"

"Definitely," I told her.

"Where are we going first?" Angie asked Alice and me.

"Madame Millie's, she has the best clothing," Alice informed us promptly.

"Great," Angie agreed.

"But she has the most expensive clothes," I told them both as I reached over for the Pumpkin Juice.

Angie sighed. "Come on, Rose. For once just spend some money on something pointless that you'll feel good in. Something that you want and not what everyone else thinks you would spend it on."

Angie's words jogged my memory and I remembered what Scorpius had told me a few weeks ago. He had said 'Focus on what _you_ want, and not what those around you do.'

"Oh, but there's this one book that I really want on—," I caught the eye of Angie and immediately shut up. She was giving me a look that told me that what I was saying really wasn't what she wanted to hear. I looked to Scorpius, who I knew was the least likely to judge me for wanting to buy a book instead of clothing, and sent him a look that meant '_Am I in trouble?_'

"'_Conquering Death_'?" Scorpius asked me offhandedly whilst piling more eggs onto his plate. I could hear the mockery clearly.

"Go eat breakfast at your own table," I snapped back at him, complete with a glare.

Scorpius only grinned at me widely whilst I glared back until I couldn't take it any more and had to release the laughter that I was trying to hold back. "Shut up," I told him playfully whilst he shot me a well-practised achievement smirk.

Finally, I nodded to Angie and Alice; I did really want a nice new dress. "Alright, but if I'm broke afterwards I'll seriously hex you both."

"Post," Roxanne muttered to us all, ruining the after effects of my threat. We all looked up in time to see a large, brown and black owl circle overheard once and then land in the middle of the table, a letter addressed to me in its clutches.

I quickly pulled the letter free from my mother's owl, Wilkins, and ripped it open.

_Dear Rosie,_

_ I hope the start if your year has been enjoyable and I'm sorry that I haven't written to you sooner, I've just been so busy. You're father wants to organise a Weasley Christmas (that's with everybody). Merlin, I don't know where that man gets his ideas from. I'm sorry to say that I caved and told him that I would organise it. One thing I have to teach you Rosie – never let a man control you like that. It gets tiring. Not that I'm not happy to do it, of course. It would be wonderful to have everybody together, with no exceptions. Could you perhaps mention to the others that they'll all be staying at Grandma Weasley's this Christmas. No exceptions._

_ I also heard from Hugo about... well, something about a fight at Quidditch Tryouts. I've told you before, Rosie, Quidditch is a dangerous sport, please be careful. I don't know why I let you both play it. I hope Scorpius is alright. Why, on Earth, did that boy get in a fight?_

_ But, on a happier note, Victoire has told me to let you all know that her and Teddy's wedding has been set for the 27__th__ of December (another reason why it's a good idea to have everybody together for Christmas). Victoire also wants you to be a bridesmaid. She says that she'll write to you with the full information soon enough. And also, you can bring anyone you like. Angela and Scorpius have been accounted for but Hugo also tells us that there's a young woman by the name of Alice that Al likes very much (only don't tell him I said that), and who you've become very good friends with too. Of course she's invited also._

_ I hope you have fun at Hogsmeade this weekend._

_ Love, mum._

_ P.s. If your father writes to you with a list of things I want for Christmas, please ignore them – he has no idea – and perhaps point him in the right direction towards what I do want for Christmas (he's worse than your Uncle Harry at buying presents)._

I read through the writing once and then, not quite believing it, read the letter again before looking up to the confused faces of everyone else.

"They set a date for Victoire and Teddy's wedding,"

"No way!"

"Already?"

"That was quick!"

"When is it?" Al asked me.

"December 27th," I read from the letter. "And you're all invited, even Angie and Scorpius and Alice."

"We are?" Scorpius asked me and I could tell that he seemed slightly uncomfortable with the thought of being at an almost all Weasley/Potter wedding.

"Don't worry, Scor," Al told him. "You've been round my house before and no one's going to judge you or anything.

"Malfoy..." he muttered his point as he buttered another piece of toast.

"We've been through this, Scorpius," I told him firmly. "People change, remember?"

"Yeah," he smiled weakly at what had previously been his own point.

"Come on, then," Angie said whilst attempting to haul me out of my seat. "We've only got today to find our dresses."

"You've got _all_ day," Al pointed out.

"To find the perfect dress, accessories _and_ shoes," Alice argued and stood up, helping Angie to drag me away and out of the hall, giving me only enough time to grab and few slices of toast and pocket my letter.

The clouds overhead started to turn an almost depressing colour of grey by the time we had collected our hats, coats and scarves and reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade village. We entered happily chatting away about the dance again and, therefore, only noticed the approaching figure when it was right in front of us.

"Oh, hey, Paul," Angie greeted him and was evidently surprised when he stopped to talk, thinking that he would continue on in the opposite direction and back up to the castle.

"Hey, Angela," he said, glancing between her, Alice and I. "I was wondering whether you had a date to the dance?" he asked.

Angie looked completely shocked. She could get guys easy enough but she wasn't expecting to be _asked_ by somebody this early on. She had told me that she would probably have to wait later on, until last minute and be asked by someone who really wanted _any_ date. I told her that that was quite sad but shut up as soon as she commented that I hadn't had a proper boyfriend before. Angie tended to get quite defensive when she got annoyed.

"Umm, actually, I don't," she stuttered back at Paul.

"Great," he smiled back at her. "Wanna go with me?"

"Sure,"

"Great,"

"Great,"

"Cool," he said before smiling and then walking in the opposite direction as us, back up to the castle.

I turned to Angie and raised my eyebrows at her. "Look who just got a date," I teased her.

"I know, I know," she replied irritably but then smiled at me.

"Now I feel bad," Alice told us as we continued walking through Hogsmeade to Madame Millie's. "Not for you, Angie, I fee great for you, obviously," she quickly clarified. "I just meant for me. I really want a date now..."

She sighed and I nodded my head – that was how I felt – as we entered the shop.

It wasn't a particularly large shop anyway but today it seemed even smaller with an unlimited amount of girls from Hogwarts crammed into the aisles and hurriedly rummaging through the racks of dresses.

I glanced at Angie and Alice, both of whom simply stared at all the people and didn't move from the doorway.

"Come on," I sighed, dragging them forwards and into the crowds. "Hopefully it'll quieten down soon."

"I fear we're going to be crushed...," Alice mumbled before she disappeared behind two arguing girls that I recognised from our school as being Fifth Years.

I sighed. _We probably are, _I thought before starting to look through the nearest rail to me whilst being squashed by a large group of Third Years.

* * *

><p>Once we had finally found the perfect dresses to wear and got through the difficulty of paying for them, Angie, Alice and I decided that it was probably best to do some serious shopping for shoes and accessories before getting something to drink at the Three Broomsticks.<p>

Alice had, indeed, bought a silver, strapless, floor length dress that looked amazing on her, with purple heels, earrings and a necklace that matched her eyes; Angie had found a pretty aqua blue dress with one strap over her shoulder and the other side without a strap and which reached somewhere around the middle of her shins, and bought black earrings to wear with it; in the end, after what felt like forever, I had uncovered a sparkly emerald green dress that reached just above my knees. To be honest, I felt really great in it because I had found something that I loved that didn't clash horribly with my hair. It actually looked great with my shade of red hair.

We entered the Three Broomsticks, hurrying before it rained heavily like the clouds overhead and small sprays of water from the sky suggested, leaden down with bags of different items such as sweets from Honeydukes and various pranks (which I refused to use unless on Al or Scorpius) from none other than Weasleys Wizard Wheezes. We quickly found a table in the back corner and dumped our bags before collapsing into the chairs around it.

"Someone needs to order the Butterbeers," I muttered with my eyes closed, leaning back in my chair.

"I'll do it," Angie sighed and hauled herself up and over to the bar on the opposite side of the room.

After a minute or two I heard chairs scrape against the floor and felt someone sit down in the seat next to me. "That was quick."

"What was?" Scorpius asked and I opened my eyes to see him smirking at me, soaking wet.

I couldn't help but laugh at the state he was in. He didn't look like he had that Saturday at Quidditch tryouts – he had looked like such a mess then – but he did look _very_ wet. And utterly gorgeous, as usual.

Again, he was wearing a white shirt (but a different one than before) and plain jeans that just suited him way too much. And everybody knows that white goes see-through when it gets wet. And, to top it all off, his shirt clung to his body making me want to... well, I don't know what. But, whatever it was, I was certain the thought wasn't going to win me the '_innocence-of-the-year'_ award (not that that was a real thing or anything).

_Why did he have to sit here, of all places?_ I asked myself, whilst trying to keep my attention on his face and not his well-sculpted chest. _Gees, I've turned into such a girl._

"What?" Scorpius demanded as Angie came back, prepared with five Butterbeers instead of just three.

"Sorry?" I asked him, blinking back to his face, whilst being glared at by Al, who had taken a seat next to Alice and evidently realised my distraction.

"Seriously?" he asked, smiling. "Is it because I'm—" he flicked his hair in my direction, making me squeal girlishly, "—wet?"

"Stop it, Scorpius," I laughed, attempting to slap his hands away as he tried to wipe them over my face.

"Stop what?" he asked playfully as he stood up and ringed out all the water from his soaking shirt over me.

I slapped him on the arm. "Now I'm soaking wet," I sulked.

"So what, you're going to have to go out there anyway."

"Not now, though,"

He smiled mischievously at me, "Maybe now,"

"Wh—," I tried to ask but he cut me off by grabbing me around the waist with both his hands, throwing me over his shoulder and pulling me towards the door.

"A little risk is always good, Rose," he whispered in my ear, turning his head. I just nodded, feeling my head going dizzy as his breath hit my face, then we stopped in front of the door and he let go of me. "But you always have the choice."

I didn't hesitate. I took his hand in mine and pulled him out the door into the pouring rain. It was freezing cold, being the end of October, but I ignored it. I kicked the first puddle I found in Scorpius' direction and he responded by chasing me around it in a circle. People rushed in all different directions, giving us strange looks as we voluntarily stayed out in the rain. Eventually Scorpius wrapped his hands around my waist and we both went tumbling to the floor, right into the freezing puddle of rain water.

We stayed there with the rain pouring down onto our faces for a moment, trying to catch our breath through our laughter.

"Why is it that you two are always on the floor?" A voice asked and I blinked to see Al standing over us with Alice next to him.

"Rose did it," Scorpius muttered quickly and I elbowed him in the ribs. He doubled over, whilst still lying beside me on the floor, and his cheek momentarily touched mine.

"What are you two doing anyway?" I asked Al and Alice as Scorpius helped me up.

They both looked uncomfortable.

"I... I just wanted to talk to Alice for a second," Al told me, trying to sound casual. I knew him too well. It must be important because, (a) Al was looking extremely nervous, more so than usual as his hands shook slightly, and (b) Alice was voluntarily standing out in the rain whilst her hair turned frizzy (although I knew that she would only do that for Al anyway, important or not important).

Scorpius and I exchanged a look. "Okay, we'll meet you back in the Three Broomsticks then," Scorpius said and we left them in the rain outside and joined Angie back inside.

"There you are!" she exclaimed when she saw us. "Everyone just left me."

"Not on purpose, Angie," I laughed as Scorpius and I took our seats again.

"And, Merlin, you two are soaked," she commented.

Scorpius just smirked at me as if he knew something that I didn't.

"What are—," I was interrupted quite rudely by a girl in my year who I liked to call '_her_' rather than use her actual name (which was Tally Mitchells). She had long, bottle blonde hair (Don't they all) and was famous for having a different boyfriend every week, yet she was unbelievably clever (therefore she was a Ravenclaw). Last year I caught her, _every time_ I was on rounds (no kidding, seriously), snogging some different guy in the corridors.

"Hey, Scorpius," she batted her eyelashes at him. "What's up?"

Scorpius blinked a few times and then realised that he was being spoken to. "Oh, I'm sorry, Tilly—"

"It's Tally,"

"—I didn't see you there, you know... with all that fake hair and make-up covering you, I thought you were a particularly large, moving mass of Pygmy Puff that they sell at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes these days," he snapped at her.

"Where's Al?" Tally asked, looking only slightly annoyed at Scorpius' blatant disregard of her flirting, and promptly started to scan the area around us for the next guy she could find.

"Off with his girlfriend," Scorpius muttered rudely back at her and Tally finally got the message.

Pouting slightly she turned and blew a kiss at Scorpius, "See you around, Scor,"

Scorpius grimaced as she turned and walked away; he shot me a look that asked what he did to deserve Tally flirting with him everyday.

"What's your problem, sunshine?" I asked him playfully. "Is being one of the hottest guys in school getting to you?"

He smirked, his eyes lighting up, and I realised that I'd just said something to inflate his already-too-large head and ego. "I'm one of the hottest guys in the school, Rosie?" he asked.

"Of course you are," I replied without being able to stop myself. The look on my face must have been one of total humiliation and shock because he laughed so loudly that people nearby turned to stare.

"Nice one, Rose," Angie muttered to me sarcastically and I shot her a look that shut her up instantly.

"What about you, Angie?" Scorpius asked her once his laughter subsided. "What would you rate me?"

She pretended to look him up and down for a moment, (actually, knowing Angie she probably _did _take the chance to look him up and down) and then told him casually, "You're probably about a seven or eight..."

"Nine," I muttered automatically and then covered my mouth with both my hands. Scorpius smirking at me and looking me up and down like that really did _not _help the situation one bit.

"Really? Why, thank you, Rosie," he winked at me and, even though I knew he was messing about, I couldn't stop my heartbeat from quickening. "I have a secret for you..." he muttered, leaning towards me from across the table and beckoning me closer with his index finger.

I shot Angie another one of my '_boys-are-idiots' _looks before sighing and leaning towards him, feeling light-headed as I smelt his sweet breath, closing the gap so that anyone not looking too closely would probably think that we were kissing or something.

_If only,_ I thought dreamily, and then mentally kicked myself. _Shut the hell up!_

"What's—," I started to ask but Scorpius shushed me so I continued in a whisper. "What's this secret then?" I asked with a slightly mocking tone to my voice, even though I secretly did want to know.

He smirked again before whispering in my ear, "You're _definitely_ a ten,"

I knew that I blushed like an idiot, my ears burned hot and I could tell that my whole face was probably as bright as my Quidditch robes.

I quickly leaned away from him, almost too quickly, like I had been electrocuted.

_Merlin,_ I _knew_ Angie was going to pressure me for information about this later, along with Alice. Angie loved gossip more than Roxanne did, and that's saying something.

After a minute or two of silence I looked at Scorpius and tried to resume a normal conversation, "What did Al want to talk to Alice about?"

"I don't know, do I?" he asked, smiling. "I was out there, getting wet."

Before I could ask him anything else, Alice and Al entered and made their way over to us together, both smiling.

"Nice hair," Scorpius told Al, who blushed violently like I'd never seen him before. Al's hair was messier than it had ever been. Actually, so was Alice's. Interesting...

"What's going on?" I asked her.

"Umm..." she hesitated, trying to smooth down her hair. "Al asked me to the dance."

"He did?" I asked, shocked that he had actually done it.

"You did?" Scorpius asked Al at the same time.

"I did, alright!" Al snapped at us all, reminding us that he was standing there. "Why can't you believe that?"

"We do, Al," I told him and then Angie, Scorpius and I all burst into laughter at the same time. We definitely believed it, we knew before Al did that he liked Alice.

"What?" Alice asked us.

"Come on, Alice," Al said to her, taking her hand.

"Later, you lot," Alice told us as she left with Al, hand-in-hand.

"At least they finally realised they like each other," I said, turning to Scorpius.

There was a moment where he just looked at me and it felt unnatural, and I got the feeling for the second time that day that he knew something that I didn't.

"Come on, you two are completely soaked, you better get back to the castle before you get hypothermia," Angie reprimanded us and we picked up our stuff and left, heading back up to the warm castle.

"Don't panic, Angie," I muttered irritably and, pulling my wand out of my pocket, I performed a silent, drying spell on myself and Scorpius.

The downpour of rain outside confirmed it had been a waste of time so I simply pulled my coat and scarf tighter around myself as protection from the cold.

* * *

><p>That evening, after the Halloween feast, there was a, rather loud, argument in the Gryffindor common room. Seriously, avoid more than five relatives if you can help it.<p>

I entered the common room from my dormitory to the sound of Angie and Dom screaming as if their life depended on it at the other relatives I had in Gryffindor. Apparently, this argument had been going on for some time because the other members of Gryffindor had become bored of it and turned their backs on them.

"Leave her alone, Al!" Dom was shouting at him. "Just because he's in that house, doesn't mean that he's 'evil'."

"But he _is _like that, Dom!" Fred shouted back at her. "Neither of you should be dating Slytherin's."

"It's got nothing to do with you!" Angie yelled at them. Al and her were practically brother and sister, which meant that they argued like it as well. "You're with Alice now so you don't have to worry. Somebody I like has asked me to the dance, regardless of houses, so I said yes. Imagine how much stick he's probably getting for it, in Slytherin?"

Al seemed to have calmed down by now, "Yeah, you're right," he muttered and sat back down with Alice in front of the fire, lacing his hand through hers. "But I still don't like it."

"Of course you don't," I said, joining them. "Just stop arguing about it. What's so wrong with them dating Slytherin's?"

"Not you too," Al sighed. It wasn't that he was prejudiced against Slytherin's or anything, Al's best friend was a Slytherin, he just didn't approve of us Weasley (or Potter) girls dating them. Not being prejudiced or anything, but the Slytherin boys, in general, really did have a bad dating record.

"Okay, Al," I said to him seriously. "What if Alice was a Slytherin, how would you feel then?"

"That's different," he sighed.

"No, it's not, Al," Alice said to him, apparently on the side of Angie and Dom. "What _would_ you do if I was in Slytherin?"

"I... I'd ask you anyway," he admitted.

"You would?" Alice asked.

"Yep," he reassured her. Alice beamed up at him and he leaned over to kiss her softly.

"You know what?" I told them both as she wrapped her arms around Al's neck. "I'm glad I don't have to be around to see this. I'm off to rounds."

And with that I hurried out of the common room before they started to snog each other in front of everyone and I was scarred for life.

Like usual, Scorpius was waiting for me already by the time I reached the Entrance Hall, leaning against the wall.

"What, do you live here or something?" I asked him mockingly, indicating the Entrance Hall, as I skipped down the last few steps and landed in front of him.

"Finally," he muttered, grinning, ignoring my question. I wasn't that bothered, it had been rhetorical (if he had said 'yes' I would have been worried).

"Sorry, there was some arguing in the common room," I told him.

"About Angie and Paul?" he guessed. "And Dom and Bill?" Bill, a tall Slytherin in Sixth Year, had asked Dom to go to the dance with him earlier in the day. Seriously, people were preparing for this dance _way_ too early.

"How did you know?" I asked as we reached the next floor and continued down the corridor.

"Arguing isn't specifically confined to the Gryffindor common room," he stated.

"They were yelling at them too?" I asked, slightly shocked even though I'd guessed as much aloud to Al.

"Yeah, it's kind of depressing," Scorpius said. "People can still be so prejudiced against houses. I dread to think what would happen if _I _asked out a Gryffindor."

"Let's play a game, then," I smiled. "And not think about it."

"Good plan," Scorpius agreed.

"You can ask first," I offered again, like always. I never knew what to ask and the game actually bored me a little, but Scorpius liked it so I humoured him. "Your minute starts... now."

This time he asked me ridiculous questions while we walked.

"How many times have you cheated on a test?"

"Never," I answered, slightly irritated by the question_. I would never cheat on a test._

"How much money do you have in your pocket?"

"About two galleons,"

"What's your middle name?"

"Like I'd tell you," I smiled.

"Come on… mine's Hyperion," he admitted, that was something even I knew that Al had been trying to get out of him for years.

"Hyperion?" I asked, no hint of a mocking tone in my voice and then caved because of his puppy-dog eyes. "Fine… mine's Nymphadora."

He laughed. "Aren't we just the King and Queen of strange middle names?"

"What makes you think I'd be your Queen?" I asked playfully.

"Would you?"

"If you asked nicely," I admitted, smiling impishly.

"Oh, Princess Rose," he exclaimed mockingly, holding out his arm to me. "Would you do me the honor of becoming my Queen?"

"Of course, good sir," I answered him, placing my arm over his.

"How many subjects are you taking this year?" Scorpius continued with his game, seemingly remembering his time limit.

"I honestly don't have a clue,"

"How would you describe Albus?"

"Clever, funny, entertaining…"

"That's positive—"

"—bad choice of friends though," I added as a joke. He didn't flinch at all at this, only chuckling a little.

"What colour is your bedroom?"

"Red," I told him, rather confused by now. I started to ignore him and answer subconsciously, walking through a door in the middle of the corridor.

"How would you describe me?"

"Arrogant, annoying, hot, overly-confident,"

"How did your holiday go?"

"You already know because I saw you at least four times," I replied.

I had gone to turn at the end of the corridor and, therefore, I had taken an extra step forwards to be on the outside of Scorpius which meant that we were suddenly only a few inches apart. Scorpius stopped walking and backed me against the wall with a mischievous look in his eyes. I was wedged between the brick wall of the castle which Scorpius had placed his hands on, either side of my head, and his body. My breathing stopped.

"How many guys have you kissed?" he whispered.

I swallowed and tried to remember how to breathe.

"Erm…," I couldn't think straight. _What had he said again?_

Scorpius' lips moved closer to mine, slowly closing the gap between us until it was almost unbearable to have him this close to me.

_Seriously, just jump him, Rose,_ I heard myself thinking.

Loud voices and footsteps rounded the corner and we jumped apart. Well, Scorpius did, I simply stayed squashed against the wall, slightly in shock.

"Oh, sorry…" the person said, I couldn't see round Scorpius' body to know who they were but I thought that it might be better that way, most likely a random First Year. Once they hurried away in the same direction that they had come there was silence.

Scorpius turned to me, grinned shyly and said, "I think my minute is over, right?"

Then he continued to walk the rest of our rounds, chatting away to me about Claire's birthday and what presents she had received. I was silent the whole time, only listening enough to hear that she had loved my present of a picture of the night sky, including all the constellations and magical terms for different things. Other than that, I was stuck inside my own head.

_What had just happened?_ I asked myself over and over again.

* * *

><p><strong>Please drop me a quick review if you can? I would LOVE you forever. Plus, they cheer me up, and it's my birthday tomorrow? I hope you liked this chapter, there's more coming real soon.<strong>


	9. Realisations Can Make You Laugh or Cry

**Hey again! :D Thank you guys so so so so much for your amazing feedback! I hope you like this chapter! I've got to tell you, I wrote chapter 1 of this a little while ago, and I've just finished writing the last chapter before the epilogue... I cannot BELIEVE where this story actually went, but I hope you all like it when it comes around!**

* * *

><p><em><span>Realisations Can Make You Laugh or Cry<span>_

As soon as I walked into my dormitory after rounds, still trapped inside my own head with my crazy thoughts, Angie, in a dark purple, silk night dress, grabbed me and yanked me to the floor in the corner of the room between my bed and hers.

Alice was already there, beaming away at me as if she loved her and Angie's plan to kidnap me and it was the most genius thing since broomsticks were invented. I wasn't really surprised, they did it every year. Alice was wearing her fluffiest, pinkest, warmest pyjamas with a picture of a cartoon pygmy puff on it, complete with fluffy slippers. The area had been filled with quilts and pillows from our beds and then covered with various sweets of all sizes and tastes. This was typical of a Halloween, except it usually included Dom, too. Our other roommates liked to stay late in Hogsmeade because Niomi's parents lived there.

As I was guided to the floor and wedged between Angie and Alice, Dom appeared from our bathroom, in her own blue pyjama shorts and Appleby Arrows top (seriously, _why _she wanted Appleby Arrows pyjamas I do not know), and joined us in the corner. I ignored their chatter whilst I loosened my tie and pulled my jumper over my head, loosening the top and second button of my uniform. I'd been wearing it for rounds, as usual.

"And it's not exactly like he doesn't like Slytherin's because he's best friends with one," Dom was complaining about Al again.

"Give him a break, it was a bit of a shock with you _both _getting asked by Slytherin's," Alice defended him.

"Stop being a loyal girlfriend, Al," Angie complained to her.

"Oh, I've just realised," Dom exclaimed suddenly, causing us all to turn to her. "They're Al and Al."

"Merlin, Dom, you've only just realised?" I asked her whilst Angie laughed and Alice tried to shoot them both a '_shut-up-now-or-I'll-kill-you-in-your-sleep' _glare.

"Can't you just leave us alone?" Alice pleaded with them, violently throwing a Pumpkin Pasties wrapper in the direction of Dom.

"Well, it's not as if you've made it any easier on us," Dom told her, throwing the wrapper back. "Snogging in the common room and everything – it's just asking to be mocked. If Rose had been there she would have given you both detentions for your PDA."

Alice looked at me as if to ask if I really would have given her a detention but I ignored her and turned to Angie as she spoke to me, "How were rounds tonight, Rose? Any pranks on Halloween?"

"No, it was actually quite peaceful," I told her. "And...pleasant." And I realised that I honestly thought that. I wasn't angry or annoyed by Scorpius' actions – I actually _liked_ them.

_Why would I like them?_ I thought to myself, seriously confused now. _There is no reason for me to like the idea of Scorpius Malfoy and me in a deserted corridor._

After I had successfully retrieved a packet of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans from Angie's bed, behind my head, I turned my attention back to their conversation, trying to ignore my dodgy thoughts.

"And then he just sort of told me that he liked me and would I like to go to the dance with him," Alice was saying.

"So you seriously like Al?" Dom asked incredulously. "Honestly?"

"Of course I do," Alice said firmly. "Haven't you seen his eyes? They're so beautiful and he's really sweet—"

"—Al? Sweet?" Dom again.

"Yes," Alice laughed, her expression changing to look dreamily out of the window and then back at us again as Angie snapped her fingers in front of her face. "He carried my bag for me and opened the doors and kissed me on the cheek and let me choose where to sit. I felt kind of weird and lazy but Al's so nice about it. He just made me laugh and I felt so..." she sighed whilst Dom pretended to be sick behind her hand, "so _happy_."

Alice noticed Dom rolling her eyes and trying not to laugh as soon as she looked at her a moment later and so they started an all out Bertie Botts Every Flavour Bean war with beans flying in all directions and wrappers following them a moment later.

"So, Alice..." Angie tried to start up a normal conversation about ten minutes later after being hit squarely in the eye with, what appeared to be, a frog flavoured bean (firstly, don't ask me how she knew it was frog flavoured because I don't want to know and, yes, I was worried). By the look Angie shot at me before she spoke, I knew this conversation would not go well for me. "What would you rate Al out of ten?"

I groaned involuntarily and glared at Angie as if my life depended on it. "Probably a ten," she told us, blushing.

"Well..." Dom said as if she had been given the worst piece of gossip in the world. "We all knew _that_ was coming."

I laughed at her. "Nobody rates people ten unless they _really_ like them," I told her and then, remembering what Scorpius had said to me in the Three Broomsticks, blushed and wished I could take it back.

"What about a certain Mr Malfoy..." Angie muttered.

"What about him?" I quickly snapped.

"Well, when he rated you—"

I coughed dramatically and loudly to cover up what Angie was saying.

Alice started to open her mouth to speak but I was saved by Dom, who hadn't really been listening.

"There's a number to liking-ness ranking order?" Dom asked me. Actually I think she knew she had just saved me from an embarrassing conversation because she winked at me a moment later.

"Yep," Angie answered for me. "1 to 2 – there's no way in hell. 3 to 4 – you're thinking about it. 5 to 6 – you fancy them. 7 to 8 – you think they're hot. 9 to 10 –they're crazy hot and you wouldn't mind a minute alone, of course."

"It's got nothing to do with personality, this ranking?" Dom asked through her laughter.

"Only a genius can tell someone's personality through how they look," Alice said.

"Yeah..." I agreed, shoving another Pumpkin Pasty into my mouth. "Some people are hard to guess."

"Scorpius?" Dom asked and my head snapped to look at her as I started choking on my pasty. Once I recovered, quickly spitting out the pasty into a bin, I stuttered at Dom, rushing my sentences.

"What does that mean? What are you talking about? I haven't said anything about him... have-have I?" I finished my sentence unsure of myself. _Had I mentioned Scorpius? I don't think I had...Unless I'd been thinking aloud, and that would be _bad_._

Alice and Dom exchanged confused, slightly amused, looks.

"Calm down, Rose," Angie told me, I could sense her trying not to laugh. "You're a bit jumpy."

"Jumpy? I'm not jumpy."

"I only meant that Scorpius looks, like, well... really arrogant—," Dom started to say.

I snorted.

"—but he's actually quite nice, so we've seen," Dom finished.

"You have?" I asked her.

"Rosie, he broke his nose for you," she told me firmly, looking me in the eyes.

"So?" I felt my heart rate quicken. _Oh, Merlin, they know that I like Scorpius._

_Wait, what? I like Scorpius? I do? Oh, Merlin, of course I do._

I leaned my head back against Angie' mattress, closing my eyes and rubbing the second and third fingers of both my hands against my temples, "I need therapy,"

They laughed at me until Dom had the courtesy to ask me, "Why?"

"Nothing," I replied quickly.

_What, in the name of Dumbledore, was wrong with me this year?_

_Maybe it was the stress of NEWTs,_ I tried to reason with myself.

_Or maybe I really did like him more than I should._

"Come on, Rosie Posie," Dom tickled me. "Tell us,"

"No," I told her firmly through my laughter. "Get off me,"

"No way, if you don't tell me I'll have to start another war," she threatened.

"Go on then, _Dominique,_" I emphasised her name.

"Oh," she froze for a moment – I knew she hated being called her full name – "It is on."

And with that, another war ensued. And a more violent one at that. In a matter of no more than four minutes Angie had, again, been hit in both eyes and the shins by Liquorish Wands and one of Alice's slippers had been lost out of our open window.

Eventually the screaming and yelling started, it was well past midnight by now but all the sugar in the sweets had given us all a sugar rush and we couldn't stop running around our dorm, over our beds, into the bathroom and, once, into the hallway.

Dom tried to hit me with a round of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans so I hid behind Alice, who got the full blast of it. Whilst being pursued by Dom again I attempted to run to the safety of the bathroom. Unfortunately I only reached halfway across the room before she grabbed onto my uniform, the only part of me she could reach was my skirt, and then tripped.

My skirt ripped in half, the bottom half tearing off unevenly so that it only reached a few inches down my thighs, and was left clutched in Dom's hands as she lay, laughing hysterically, on the floor. Alice and Angie froze in the mist of their Sugar Quill fight on my bed and turned to stare. For the first time in thirty minutes, it was silent.

"Dom..." I started in a deadly calm voice. "I'm going to _kill you!"_

I took a step towards her, ready to kill my cousin with my bare hands – that was the only skirt I had at the moment, I'd have to wait until the Christmas break to buy a new one, my parents would tell me that it was my fault so I'd have to get it myself – but there was suddenly a loud banging on our door.

I went to open it, distracting myself from my murderous rage, with my skirt still ripped and only reaching halfway up my thighs.

And who was standing at the door but none other than my cousin (_Well, what are the chances? They take up most of the school, after all)_.

"Al!" I exclaimed as Alice, somewhere behind me, muttered quickly 'really?' and was promptly tripped over, most likely by Angie, when I heard a loud thump. Al smiled at me. "What are you doing outside my door and how, in the name of Merlin, did you get up the girls staircase?"

"Ah, Rosie Posie," he started and I sighed (_did everybody in my family insist on calling me that tonight?_), "I have ways. Don't you think I share shortcuts with my brother and don't you think he shares his little findings with me?"

"Okay, firstly, eww," I told him. "I don't want to know what James gets up to in the girls dormitories. And secondly, _why_ are you here?"

"Good question, Rose, but I think _I_ should be asking a more important one: What is up with your uniform?" he raised his eyebrows.

Okay, I _did_ look a little... well; _Victoire-ish_ was the only way of putting it. The first two buttons on my shirt were undone, which made the neck-line seriously low, my tie was loose so it looked more like an accessory rather than an item of clothing and my skirt, as previously mentioned (I am going to kill Dom), was incredibly short (any shorter and you'd be able to see my underwear, seriously).

"Shut up, I'm not in class," was my brilliant reply. "Seriously, Al, what are you doing in the girls dormitories?"

"We thought somebody was being killed," came a voice from behind Al and Scorpius pushed himself off of the wall and joined his friend at the door. _Oops, hadn't seen him there._

I glared back into my room, trying to avoid looking directly into Scorpius' eyes, at Dom just as Alice made her way over. "Al," she greeted him.

"Somebody _was _about to be killed, before you interrupted us," I told Scorpius.

He smirked at me and said quite suggestively, looking me up and down slowly. "By the way, I _love_ the new uniform."

I blushed and tried to pull down my skirt so that it was longer. "And _that_, my dear Scorpius," I glared at him, "is why I was just about to kill dear Dominique, here."

"Well, don't let us get in your way," he motioned a hand towards our room as if to tell us to carry on. He wasn't getting off the hook that easily.

As Alice and Al disappeared back down into the common room I turned to Scorpius, "How did _you_ get into Gryffindor Tower, let alone into the girls common room?"

"Ah, Rosie, I have my ways," he said simply.

We stared at each other for a second; his face was unusually soft. We stood alone in the girl's dormitory corridor, neither of us speaking. I knew he was thinking about the same thing I was – _what would have happened earlier if we hadn't been interrupted? Would he have kissed me? Would I have kissed him back?_ My head spun as I tried to look for answers, only coming to more confusing questions.

The tension between us built until it was almost unbearable, I tried to think of something to say but nothing came to me. Suddenly, Scorpius took a step towards me, looking as if he meant business, and opened his mouth to speak, "Rose, I—"

"—You're a bit of a rebel then, Scorpius," Dom told him as she finally made her way over to the door, apparently deciding that I wouldn't kill her and unknowingly interrupting Scorpius.

"I'd like to think so," he smirked back at her, taking a step backwards to lean against the wall again, his whole expression and posture changing back to arrogance and elegance.

"Stop it, Dom," I told her, snapping back to normal-mode instinctively. "You're inflating his already over-inflated head."

"Well," he turned to me. "At least you're looking into new uniforms. I dare say that one's a little too suggestive, Head Girl."

"Dom ripped it," I muttered. "And now I have to wait until Christmas to buy a new one."

"Why not just fix it," I stared at him blankly until he elaborated. "With magic? No? You _are_ a witch, right?"

"It only stays intact for a while, it's not permanent and is very fragile," I recited from one of the many books I had read.

"Okay, then..." he muttered after a minute. "Stay walking round like that for the next month and a half, then. In any case, you look _divine_." He said the last word in a fake-posh accent and smirked again.

I sighed in annoyance at him, mostly to cover up my blushing. "Get out of here, Malfoy, before I give you six weeks worth of detentions."

He bowed to us both, pretending to be the gentleman I knew he wasn't, and scrambled down the staircase yelling, "Al! Time to go!"

A moment later Alice came sulkily up the staircase, shutting the door to our room behind her.

* * *

><p>Skirt fully intact and the proper length, everything continued as normal as October rolled into November. I kept getting frequent updates about Teddy and Victoire's wedding, the same old boring things. All I really wanted to know was the time and place and I'd be fine, but, seeing as we were all going to be at the Burrow for Christmas anyway, I wasn't bothered about knowing the details.<p>

The relationship between Scorpius and I had returned to normal (sort of, we spent less time together but still enough that our friends noticed no difference, simply because I thought I might do something stupid if we were together for too long) – mocking each other as best friends do. Neither of us spoke about that confusing scene at rounds, nor did he ever again try to tell me whatever he had been trying to say before Dom interrupted us outside the dormitory.

I walked out of History of Magic with Dom one Friday to discover that the halls were filled with plenty of people who had apparently discovered how to walk at the pace of a snail. Everybody was excited about the upcoming Quidditch Match, the first of the season, between Gryffindor and Slytherin, but the conversation between Dom and me was on our previous lesson that we had just escaped.

"Merlin, I didn't think that things could be so _boring_," Dom complained loudly over the noise in the corridors. "Nobody cares if one guy got a little frisky with too many girls and then proceeded to get himself and them all murdered by giants."

I made a disgusted sound. "What's the word for a man slag?" I asked Dom seriously.

"You wouldn't be thinking about anybody in particular, now, would you, Rose?" I heard Scorpius ask me from behind.

I stopped in my tracks to turn and glare at him as he caught up to me and Dom.

"Don't worry, Scorpius," Dom told him. "Tomorrow I'll make sure you get hit with a bludger hard enough that you won't have _that_ kind of problem with girls."

"So it'll just be the outnumbered-and-murdered-by-giants kind of problem that I'll have?" he asked. Dom nodded. "Right... thanks."

"Did you come here with the _sole _purpose to annoy us or was that just an added bonus?" I asked him.

"Well, at first I thought it was just an added bonus but now I'm starting to think through my options of slipping away quietly."

"What did you want?" I asked, sighing as we made our way into the Great Hall for lunch. For some reason he had started to get on my nerves again – it was probably the increasing number of suggestive comments that I tried, and failed, to avoid.

"Oh, just to tell you that I'm going to kick your arse tomorrow."

I snorted. "I don't think so," I told him seriously as I reached the table with the rest of my family already deep in conversation about the upcoming match and completely ignoring our arrival, Dom went to sit by Roxanne. "I'm going to get the Snitch before you so you won't be able to kick my arse at all."

"Can I slap it, then?" Scorpius smirked as he walked past me to sit at the Slytherin table for once. And he did just that, he slapped my bum.

I glared at him throughout Charms.

* * *

><p>The Quidditch stadium was fuller than I had expected, or did it only appear to be so because I was <em>really<em> high in the air and the people all blurred into one?

_Maybe,_ I reasoned with myself, not really bothered.

The game had been in play for around ten minutes and the current score was 60 – 40 to Gryffindor. All I had to do now was catch the Snitch before Scorpius did.

I watched him fly around the pitch in circles some few metres below me whilst I sat in the same spot, only my eyes moving to see where that little zooming ball was.

The clouds overhead threatened us with rain that would be hard to see through and would not help us, especially as it was already a dull grey day and extremely windy, my hair whipped about my face having escaped from its confines in the hair band that I had lost about thirty seconds into the game due to a particularly large and violent gust of wind.

At the exact moment that I decided to do a few laps around the pitch to see if that would help me catch sight of the Snitch, Scorpius decided to, quite surprisingly, fly closer to me, still a few metres below.

He called up to me, "Hey Rose! Any luck finding the Snitch?"

"I'm not going to_ tell_ you, Malfoy!" I called back down to him due to the wind. "Gryffindor are going to beat you Slytherins to a pulp!"

"Hey, you know that whole thing with Angie and Paul, and Dom and Bill...well, I—I was wondering whether _you_ would ever consider dating a Slytherin," he yelled up to me and I was momentarily shocked, looking down to face him instead of about the pitch for the golden ball that I was supposed to be looking for.

"What are you talking about?" I asked him. _Was that what he was going to ask me before?_ No. I knew it wasn't, his tone had been much more serious then, and more... embarrassed? Awkward? Maybe even a little frightened?

"What?" He yelled.

I repeated my sentence louder and blinked back the tears that formed in my eyes due to the wind.

A flash of light caught my eye.

"Just curious!" he told me whilst scanning the pitch. "You know, prejudices and all..."

Suddenly I realised what he was doing – Scorpius was distracting me from catching the Snitch. The Gryffindor team, namely Al, were desperate to win this match and get an early lead in the season; it just took some of the pressure off us knowing that we were winning and also gave us the whole Christmas holidays to rub it in their faces.

"Nice try, Malfoy!" I called down to him. He took a split second to send me a quizzical look and then, watching me speed off down to the other end of the pitch, realised what was happening.

"_Weasley, number 12, speeds off down the pitch as Weasley, number 3, shoots, but will she score? Oh! And she's scored another ten points for Gryffindor. It looks like Potter is doing well this year as Captain, whereas Flint isn't managing his team too well," _the commentator's voice boomed out from the microphone at the end of the pitch that I sped towards. "_Weasley, number 12, is speeding this way. It looks like she's seen something that Malfoy hadn't spotted until now. But is it the Snitch? If it is Gryffindor are certainly in for an early lead this season. And it _is_ the Snitch!"_

I zoomed past the commentator, winking at William Jordan as I passed, son of Lee Jordan. Scorpius followed hot on my trail as we raced each other to get to the Snitch in time. Whatever was happening in the rest of the game was momentarily blocked from my mind as I focused on catching the golden ball in front of me.

"_And Weasley, number 8, has scored. It looks like he's trying to get in as many points as possible before his charming sister catches the snitch. The score is now 80 – 50 to Gryffindor. And Weasley number 12 and Malfoy are still chasing each other around the pitch. Oh- oh my! That was a close call for Weasley number 29. Lucky her teammate Nelson caught her in time – that was quite a catch! That could have been a nasty fall. Those Slytherin's really do play dirty. Is she alright? It looks as if she's unconscious. Are they calling an end to the game? It looks like there's no point. Oh, my, Weasley 12 reaches out; it looks like she's got the Snitch!"_

I was close enough to the Snitch now that I could touch it, having only focused on this aim and not on what William was saying, if it didn't keep bloody moving, that was. My broom zoomed around the pitch, zigzagging between the players and hoops whilst following my prey. I reached out my hand. _Not close enough. _I had to shift my body weight forwards on my broom, which was dangerous anyway, but going at the speed I was going at... it was practically suicidal. And, no, I did _not_ want to die. I just _really_ wanted to win. If I missed this chance Scorpius would _surely _take it.

I reached out again and was pleased to feel the cold metal of the small ball curled inside my fist.

Slowing down, I circled in spirals (a new fancy trick that I had learnt) towards Al as the cheering started.

"_And Weasley 12 has done it! She's caught the Snitch for Gryffindor as they win this match 230 – 50,"_ William was saying through the microphone. Only now that the game was over was I paying attention.

"Well done, Rose!" Al called to me over the wind.

"We won! We won!" Dom was chanting to me as she joined us.

My attention, however, was caught by a strange shape zooming towards our little group in the centre of the pitch. As it drew closer I realised that the figure was, in fact, Sam Nelson on his broom, holding up a limp Lily and trying to keep her in balance.

"What happened?" I asked him when he got close enough.

"I...erg, I help Hugh...game..." Lily mumbled incoherently.

"What's wrong with her?" I snapped at Sam.

"She's slipping in and out of consciousness," he informed me concerned with Lily and not bothering to look at me. I felt my blood run cold.

"Oh my Gosh, Lily!" I called to her over the wind. "Lily, wake up!"

"She'll be fine. We just need to get her to the Hospital Wing quickly. Hugo's gone to find her broom." He motioned towards the ground.

"Why?" I asked. "What happened to it?"

"It's...It's in pieces," Sam told me seriously. "Shattered on impact with the floor."

Without taking my eyes off my cousin I muttered sombrely, "At least it wasn't Lily."

* * *

><p>We all waited outside of the Hospital Wind for just over half an hour. By 'all' I meant every single member of my family currently attending Hogwarts... plus more.<p>

Firstly there was Rich, and then came me, Al, Scorpius, Dom, Hugo, Fred, Roxanne and Louis. Then Lily's best friends Callie Carmen and Sarah Yang had arrived, and finally two other members of the Slytherin Quidditch Team, Darren Flint (the team captain and son of Marcus Flint) and Tristan Dale.

Apparently Darren and Tristan had collided with each other, squashing Lily in the process. She would have been fine with just that hit but Tristan (as beater) had accidently smashed her in the head with his bat, which then went flying out of his hand as he was pushed backwards by the force. Both he and Darren had been thrown from the collision and Sam, showing dedication to his teammate, had rocketed down towards the floor to catch her falling body before she smashed into the hard mud.

It showed great nerve that he flew faster than 70mph, even when only a few metres from the floor, to catch her. Not only that, but Sam downright _refused _to leave Lily's bedside. The rest of us were thrown out to wait in the corridor.

The other members of the Slytherin team had wanted to stay too, but Darren had sent them all back to their common room. Scorpius, at first, tried to use his Head Boy status to stay but I told him curtly that he was in the way and that it would be better for everyone if he just left. I think he sensed that I was angry at him for playing that trick with the Snitch because he shot me a confused look but eventually managed to stay.

I even found myself drawn to him, as usual, and we slumped against the wall together, sitting on the floor. My eyes fluttered closed every now and then and I found myself leaning into Scorpius for warmth and comfort in the cold castle. He wrapped an arm around me and I, in turn, pulled one of my arms up across his chest and over his left shoulder, my head resting in the crook of his neck. I was exhausted.

The only other reason that Sam had been allowed into the Hospital Wing with Lily was because he had been the one to catch her and had seen the whole thing from a bit of a distance. Basically, Madame Pomfrey had wanted to hear what had happened from him.

I think she fancied him a little; everyone did. He was tall, dark, handsome and a complete gentleman.

Just as I found myself thinking this the doors to the Hospital Wing opened and out came Lily, looking shaky in a pink dressing gown and slippers and being supported by the elbow by Sam.

We all stood up as she stopped in front of us.

"How are you, Lils?" Al asked her.

"You look pale," I added.

"I... I think I sprained my wrist, but I'm okay. Luckily Sam caught me," she smiled weakly at us all. "Madame Pomfrey says that I can go back to Gryffindor Tower and rest. I'm all fine for school on Monday."

"That's great, Lily," her friend Carmen spoke up as Sarah nodded furiously behind her.

"Lily..." Hugo stepped forwards. "I'm _so_ sorry. If I wasn't so stupid you wouldn't be hurt."

"Don't worry, Hugh," she replied, patting his shoulder. "I'm fine. I shouldn't have gotten in the way."

"You were just trying to help," Hugo reasoned. I had the sudden feeling that I was missing something.

There was a cough from behind me and Tristan Dale stepped forwards. "Lily, I'm _so_, _so_ sorry. I didn't mean to hit you _at all_. The wind... it—it was bad and I couldn't do anything to... to..."

It shocked me to see Tristan, a large, tough Sixth Year who could pass as a Seventh Year at Durmstrang, with tear tracks down his face. He wasn't crying now, but he had been.

"I thought I'd killed you..." he muttered.

Lily smiled at him. "Don't worry, Tri, I'm perfectly fine."

"Come on, it's past curfew everyone, get back to your dorms," I told them all and everyone groaned at me. "What?" I defended myself.

"Must you _always_ be in 'Head Girl mode'?" Scorpius asked as we all set off down the corridor. He slung an arm over my shoulder as we walked.

"Always," I nodded.

There was a party in the Common Room that night. Rather than be upset that Lily had had a near-death experience the house had gone on to celebrate her recovery along with the result from today's game... or so Fred had told me. Personally, I think he just wanted an excuse to sneak _more_ Butterbeer from the kitchens. Why they had Butterbeer in the kitchens anyway was beyond me, the teachers _had_ to know it was being stolen all the time.

I found myself sitting on the largest windowsill in the Common Room, that showed a beautiful view of the moonlight shining off of the lake, wedged between Dom, who was flirting with a Fifth Year (who she apparently rated seven out of ten, so she had told me), and William Jordan and a few of his friends on my other side.

I quietly sat there, looking out at the lake, whilst sipping on my Butterbeer peacefully. Whatever music was playing in the background could not be heard because of all the noise from the students. I could hear Laura and Debbie giggling in the far corner of the room – _must they be so loud?_ – As Head Girl I _probably_ should have broken up the party but then I'd most likely be hated for all eternity by everyone... and there wasn't any harm in celebrating. Even _I _had to admit that everyone needed a party sometimes (I ignored that part of my brain that reminded me that there was going to be a dance in a few weeks time anyway and people could have probably just waited for that).

I felt a light tap on my shoulder and turned to see who it was.

"Hey Will," I greeted William Jordan, nodding briefly to his friends whose names I did not know.

"Hey Rose, I was just wondering if you were okay? You can join our conversation if you like," he offered.

"Thanks, Will, but I'm good here with..." I turned to see that Dom had disappeared, probably to a secluded corner with her cute Fifth Year. "Ah, seems she's gone."

He smiled at me sweetly. "We're discussing which Quidditch Team can beat the Wimbourne Wasps if cheating wasn't allowed," he tempted.

"_Nobody_ could win a Quidditch match without cheating," I told them all.

"Sure they could," his blonde friend disagreed.

"Do you cheat then, Rose? I didn't think you'd lower yourself to those levels," Will said to me and I got the feeling that he was almost disappointed with me.

"Everybody cheats, Will," I told him firmly. Okay, so I _hadn't _cheated before in anything, let alone Quidditch, but in professional Quidditch leagues they always cheated and I thought it was just silly to assume otherwise.

"Yes they do," another of his friends agreed happily and they all touched their glasses together.

A frightened looking Second Year girl walked over to us then and, shaking visibly at the sight of the large group of Seventh Years around her, mumbled to the floor, "Rose Weasley? There's a boy outside who says he wants to talk to you," and she quickly rushed off, disappearing through the crowds.

"Okay..." I started as some of the guys around me wolf whistled and some laughed at how they had frightened that girl. "I better go see what he wants this time."

I stood up, fixing my uniform, as Will asked me, "But how do you know who it is?"

"It's _always_ the same person," I told him, shaking my head in an exasperated way, and pushed my way to the portrait hole, mumbling under my breath, "Stupid Slytherin with bad timing... ruins my fun..."

I stepped into the empty and freezing seventh floor corridor, wrapping my arms around my body to keep the cold out, as the portrait swung shut and most of the noise coming from the party vanished.

"Don't stay out too long, dear," The Fat Lady warned me happily, and then continued to drink bucket loads of wine with her friend. Apparently they were celebrating too.

"What do you want Scorpius?" I asked him as he stood up from his previous position against the opposite wall on the floor.

Instead of his usual joking manner, Scorpius surprised me by getting straight to the point. "I'm not sure _what_ I want, Rose," he sighed. I thought for a brief moment that there was a hidden meaning to that sentence. "I just feel that there's something wrong, like _I've_ done something wrong, but I can't think of it... I just can't. So I'm asking you... what have I done that's making you... I don't know, slightly odd with me?"

"It's nothing, Scorpius," I muttered. "Just forget it."

"No!" He shouted and then lowered his voice. "What is it? I want to know otherwise it'll drive me insane."

"It's just..." and then I rush through my sentences. "It's just what you said on the Quidditch Pitch... y'know, about me ever dating a Slytherin..."

"Yeah... what about it?" He seemed genuinely confused.

I threw my arms up in a furious manner, my anger suddenly sparking. "_What about it?_ Seriously, Scorpius, you're asking me that? You said it deliberately to distract me long enough to find the Snitch."

"What? No I didn't."

"Yes you did, and anyway, it didn't work," I snapped at him.

"Look, Rose, what is your problem? Maybe I asked you because I was genuinely curious to know the answer. Maybe I actually didn't know how you'd react. Maybe I don't _always_ think before I speak when I'm around you. Did you ever think of that? I didn't think you would, you never think about other people as having problems. We're not all perfect like you. And we're not all selfish like you, only thinking of ourselves!" Scorpius yelled at me, taking a step forwards so that we were practically nose to nose, except I was slightly smaller than him.

"Excuse me? Who do you think you are?" I shouted back, defence kicking in instinctively. "Don't you _dare_ try to tell me who I am. You don't even know me!"

"Of course I do, Rose. I know you much more than I should do!" He fumed. "And now I know just how _complicated_ girls can be."

"That's stereotyping, I thought you, at least, would know how horrible it is!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said sarcastically, his anger building steadily through his next sentence so that he was literally yelling in my face. "I was under the impression that I was calling you a _girl _and not a good-for-nothing, selfish, stuck-up, arrogant, thinks-he's-superior _Death Eater!_"

"_Well you are_!" It went silent just as I realised what I'd said. _I didn't mean that, not at all._

The worst feeling came over me as Scorpius simply backed away, staring at me with a hurtful, shocked expression on his face.

I took a step forwards with my hands outstretched. "Scorpius," I whispered to him. "I didn't mean it, of course I didn't. _Please,_ I'm sorry – really and truly sorry."

"You think I'm just as bad as a Death Eater..." he breathed quietly to himself.

"No, of course I don't," I tried to tell him but he seemed to not hear me.

Scorpius just looked at me until, finally, our eye contact broke and he turned to walk back down the corridors to his own House. "You know what, Rose..." he whispered just before he turned away. "You _are_ selfish and I can't believe I ever thought you were kind. If you're going to stand there and call me a Death Eater, then I might as well call you a stupid little blood traitor."

And with that Scorpius turned and left me standing in the freezing corridor alone. The tears started to fall freely down my face and I swore that I could feel a piece of me breaking apart. I slumped to the floor, afraid that I wouldn't be able to stand through all my dizziness. My chest hurt, whether from crying or some strange emotional reason I don't know, and I scrunched myself up into a ball, hugging my knees closely to my chest and burying my head under my hair.

The sound of my sobbing echoed throughout the corridors – the only sound for, what seemed like, a long while – then I heard footsteps. I knew that they weren't Scorpius' because he wouldn't come back; I've just broken his trust and thrown the worst insult he could ever think of at him. He hates me.

The person squashed themselves next to me on the floor and hugged me tightly, stroking my hair and comforting me. Without even looking up I know who it was.

"Everyone heard, didn't they?" I breathed through my sobs.

"Yeah..." Al sighed. His words create a fresh flow of tears as I felt myself breakdown again. I may have just ruined one of the best friendships I had. I turned around so that I could hug him tightly whilst I cried.

Then, with more tears, came another realisation._ Maybe I've just ruined something much more than friendship._

* * *

><p><strong>Wow, I forgot there was a bit of drama and quidditch in this one! I hope you all enjoyed it - my forte is not drama - I enjoy the fluff (Who doesn't?) Let me know what you think, especially of the quidditch! We all need a bit of quidditch every now and then, right?<strong>

**Also, if you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my "One of the Boys" - it's a ScoRose one-shot (may be writing more, though), if you're interested. :D**

**Thank you for reading!**_  
><em>


	10. Ever Heard the Expression Kiss & Make Up

**Oh my gosh, you guys are amazing. You know that, right? :D Thank you so much for reading/reviewing/alerting/everything! Here's chapter 10. I hope that the title gives you a hint as to what happens... (don't peek though!)**

**Disclaimer: I should really write one of these every now and then, so here it is: I solemnly swear I am not JK Rowling. Mischief Managed.**

* * *

><p><em><span>Ever Heard the Expression 'Kiss and Make Up"?<span>_

I honestly don't remember ever being this miserable. As the days went by and the daylight hours faded all I could do to keep my mind off of this 'Scorpius' problem was to study. And, even though I study a lot already, this is intense studying. So much so that three of my cousins even wrote to my mother, asking her if they should just leave me be or force me away from the text books I'm constantly pouring over. And how do I know that they wrote this? I stole their letters.

What? Like I said, I'm trying to preoccupy myself... and some of them I just don't trust when they randomly start writing to my parents.

I had also taken to practising at least three hours a day of Quidditch for two reasons; the first was to occupy myself and my thoughts, the second was because there is _no way_ in hell that I am ever putting another member of my family in danger. I know I wasn't involved in that accident with Lily but I want to be as prepared as ever in case I _am_ involved in an accident. And good Quidditch skills can't hurt, especially with the upcoming annual Weasley/Potter Christmas Quidditch Match.

But before I knew it the date was December the 20th, the day before the dance, and I was still as miserable as anything. I've tried to apologise to Scorpius, I try every day now. At first I didn't want to push him too much so I gave him a little time to calm down and assess the situation but he wouldn't listen to me. Then I started to apologise any day I saw him, then even once a day and now I go out of my way to find him so that he'll listen. But he won't. He doesn't even speak to me voluntarily anymore, only when he has to in class or if I have deliberately asked him something that only he can answer, such as about our duties as Head Boy and Girl. He doesn't even speak during rounds. The only time he's spoken to me voluntarily in the last month has been twice in Defence Against the Dark Arts, first because I was about to get crushed by a Boggart and the second was when I was in his way.

After History of Magic on Friday, our last day of lessons before term broke up, a large group of us headed towards the Great Hall; we all had the lesson together, including Scorpius.

"I can't believe the dance is _tomorrow_," Alice squealed, hugging Al's arm.

"Yeah, great..." I muttered sarcastically.

"Do you still not have a date, Rose?" Dom asked me. I simply opted for shaking my head once.

It's not like I haven't been asked, I have... about four times. First by William Jordan, a couple of days after the party in the Common Room, he asked me in the middle of one of our Charms classes so that I couldn't escape. I told him 'no', though. He's cute but I don't like him like that and it would be mean to let him think that I do. The other people to ask me were Henry Johnson, Cody Bright and William Brown.

You might recall that this last guy, William Brown, had been a guy that I had had a _huge_ crush on back in my Fourth Year and he had caused a lot of 'heartbreak' for me (or what I thought was heartbreak at the time). When he stopped me on my way to Quidditch Practice only yesterday and asked me to go with him to the dance I almost slapped him in the face with my broomstick. But then I remembered that he couldn't have possibly known that I had liked him three years ago and even though we were kind of dating at the time it wasn't definite. I had to let it go. I settled for laughing in his face a little and then telling him that it was a firm 'no'. Looking back on my reaction yesterday I think that I _might_ have been a little harsh. But being miserable made me a bit of a bitch and I just didn't care what affect on other people I made.

_Scorpius was right,_ I realised. _I am selfish._

_ "_Don't worry, you can still have fun with us," Dom tried to reassure me as we all sat down around the Gryffindor table. I was surprised to see Scorpius sit with us again; he usually left as soon as we entered the hall for the Slytherin table. Although today he did purposefully speed up so that Al was placed between us and he didn't have to sit next to me. Maybe this was showing an improvement. Maybe he'd forgive me soon...

"_Okay_, Dom," I snapped at her. "I'm not a social outcast, I just don't have a date. I know how dances work, thank you."

She rolled her eyes at me and shook her head in a patronising way but didn't comment. I think I was starting to get on the nerves of all my family. Except Al - for some reason he still loved me.

"Well, why don't you go with Scorpius, then?"

_Maybe I didn't love _him_ after that comment._

Both Scorpius and I shot him glares from where we sat on either side of him. Maybe Al just hadn't been paying attention. He knew that we were arguing a month ago, but evidently he hadn't been paying attention to how we still weren't talking. Nobody around the table spoke from tension. Apparently it was obvious to _them _that we were arguing.

"We're not talking," Scorpius muttered fiercely, still chopping up his potatoes with the side of his fork.

"You're _never_ talking," Al muttered back to us both.

"Yes we are!" We both argued with Al at the same time.

Our eyes locked from across Al for a moment, a hint of surprise and amusement passing between us, until he remembered our fight. He looked away quickly.

"Fine, fine," Al held up his hands in a way of surrender. "Go on your lonesome then, I was just trying to help you get dates."

"Maybe check things first, Al..." Roxanne offered.

"Thanks, Roxy," he told her sarcastically. "I could have used that suggestion about thirty seconds ago." She looked a little upset by this.

_ Well, wasn't my bad mood spreading quickly today? _Firstly Dom was annoyed with me, then Scorpius (who already hated me anyway) wasn't too pleased, then Al had been caught in it and now Roxanne. And now I felt even worse for making them all feel bad.

We ate in silence for a while, quite an achievement when you think of how many of us there are, until I muttered to them all, "I'm sorry guys, for putting you all in a bad mood."

They all argued that I hadn't done that, like a good family would, but evidently the apology helped because they were all much chattier.

Scorpius stood up, having finished his lunch, and spoke to me for the third time this month; "Are you really, Rose?" he asked me spitefully and then marched out of the hall.

All in all, it wasn't the best Friday ever.

I spent most of Saturday sulking in bed until Angie, Alice, Dom and even Polly and Niomi, grouped together to get me out of bed at five o'clock. I was quite happy laying there, reading and eating chocolate.

"Stop sulking and just _get up!_" Lily demanded, marching into our room with half her hair still in rollers and her dress on but not zipped up. She marched over to me, reminding us all that she had gotten her temper from her mother, and started to whack me hard with her mascara tube.

"I'm not sulking," I muttered back, rolling over to avoid her hits.

"Yes you are and I've had enough of it. Now _get out of bed._ Its five o'clock and you haven't been up once. You haven't got long to get ready and I'm expecting you to look amazing in that dress you've bought because it sure as hell was expensive!"

"Alright, alright," I told her, smiling. "I'm getting up."

"Good," she muttered, marching back out to her own dorm room shaking her head and muttering under her breath about too many cousins and the simple life of being an only child.

"Lily!" I called after her. For a moment there was no reply and I though she was either ignoring me or hadn't heard but then she reappeared in the doorway grinning at me. "Can you help me with my hair please?" I asked her politely.

Her smile widened, "I thought for a moment that you weren't going to ask."

The girls' dormitories had practically been turned into a sort of salon/free-for-all shop. Girls from all years hurried in and out of different year groups' rooms to collect make-up or borrow shoes. It was a madhouse. I showered quickly and pulled on my dress whilst calling for Lily. She came almost immediately, looking stunning in a golden dress – apparently her mother had worn it to our Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur's wedding when she was sixteen. Lily curled my hair for me, telling me that it looked better down, and then did my make-up for me too so that it was perfect. Eventually it was time to start making our way down to the Hall.

The dance was being held in the Great Hall, like the Yule Ball had been many years before. When we arrived my friends met their dates and I joined them in a large group before we made our way in. Al and Alice both wore silver, Alice's entire dress was silver and Al's tie was too. Angie looked amazing in her long blue dress with her hair tied up in a tight bun with a few tight curls coming loose. Her date, Paul, stood quietly next to her in black and white dress robes. Lily had come to the dance with Tristan, he looked immensely happy to have her by his arm, with good reason too. She wore that golden dress that she had been telling me about for the past five weeks which complimented her figure perfectly, her hair curled similarly to mine but with a golden headband with a golden lily on it atop her head. I couldn't help laugh at how clueless Lily was that Sam Nelson was staring at her the entire time she was within sight distance of him.

I noticed that Peter Maroon had come to the dance with Lauren, a girl from Ravenclaw who usually had a particularly close eye on Scorpius most of the time. I hadn't seen her near him since that day when I had charmed his forehead to read _'inexperienced loser_'. And then I thought of something: _Who was Scorpius coming with? _I remembered what Al had said to us both yesterday, 'I was just trying to help you get _dates_', which meant that Scorpius doesn't have a date. I saw him approach our group and start talking to Al. He looked... gorgeous. I sighed as they continued to talk animatedly, Scorpius' fringe falling into his eyes as he stood with his hands casually in his pockets.

_Yep; he definitely didn't have a date._

_But why?_ It's not like he hadn't been asked. Probably quite a few girls would have asked him because, well, he was Scorpius – practically half the girls in school wanted to date him. I knew for a fact that Lucy had asked him, he had politely declined, telling her that the girl he had wanted to ask wouldn't go with him and that he simply didn't want to go with anyone else. At the time that Dom had told me I just assumed that Scorpius had already asked someone. Besides, he could have asked _anyone_ who didn't have a date. I also noticed that there were a lot of girls (and guys too) around who didn't have dates, just like me, preferring to come in large friendship groups. I felt a little less lonely.

We made our way into the Great Hall. It was decorated beautifully. The ceiling showed, as usual, the nights sky, thankfully a deep black with hundreds of sparkling stars. I could see Hugo a few people in front of me just gazing at it in awe – he loved the stars. Just like Claire.

_Stop thinking about anything that relates to Scorpius and just try and have fun tonight,_ I told myself. I had vowed that I wouldn't ruin tonight for my family just because I was unhappy that I was arguing with a close friend.

The walls had been draped with pure white silk over every surface; the only spaces where there wasn't any white were the windows so that we had a view of the moonlight and stars over the black lake and surrounding countryside. The floor was also covered in that same silk so that the whole hall was white. A Stage had been set up at the far end of the hall where the teachers table usually sat and small tables seating ten or so people had been set up all around the edge of hall, the only open space was in the centre of the room that was for dancing.

I immediately sat down at a table in the middle of the left-hand wall so that I had a great view of the lake, taking a glass of drink from one of the many floating trays throughout the hall.

Professor McGonagall was saying something to us all but I couldn't hear her over the excited chatter of all the students. A moment later and I realised what she was saying, she was trying to get them all to be quiet.

I, already looking for a way to vent my anger, stood up in my chair. Taking another large step I climbed onto the table so that I now towered over everybody and pulled my wand out from behind my ear (hey, it may seem crazy but Aunt Luna knew her stuff, nobody could see it because of the thickness of my hair and I didn't have to carry a purse all the time).

Placing it against my throat and muttering '_Sonorus_' I yelled at every student in the school, "Quiet! Professor McGonagall is _trying_ to create some order! Those continuing to speak will receive detention!"

They all quietened down, nobody refused or muttered under their breaths because shouting at them all was what my position of Head Girl allowed me to do.

After a moment or two of complete silence in the hall (which was really strange because there were over a thousands students there) McGonagall shot me a look which told me to get down from the table before _I _got a detention.

Two hands appeared instantly, offering me a help down from the table, and I took them gratefully, muttering thanks to both persons. It was only when my feet were firmly placed on the floor that I realised that one of those hands had belonged to Scorpius. There were about ten other guys who could have helped me yet Scorpius had chosen to instead. Did that mean he didn't hate me as much as I thought he did?

I turned back to hear what Professor McGonagall was now saying.

"I trust that you will all follow these rules as failure to do so will result in six weeks of detentions and a ban from the Quidditch Stadium and Library during that time also – " _Damn, sounds serious... And I wasn't listening._ " – I would like to remind the Head Boy and Girl that you are expected to speak to the students at the end of the evening about their overall behaviour so it would be expected that you didn't... break any rules yourself." A lot of the older years laughed at this and I inwardly cursed myself again for not listening to the rules. "I hope you all have a good evening and here is your first band of the night – The Weird Sisters."

McGonagall bolted from the stage quicker than I thought possible for someone of her age as the Weird Sisters took up their positions on stage, students crowding forwards to get a good look at them and others settling for dancing or screaming immensely loud. Even after all this time the Weird Sisters were still famous – they were legends.

At least everyone appeared to be having fun.

"Come on, Al," Alice tugged on his arm. "Let's dance." And they disappeared between the many people.

I sat back down in my seat; throwing back half my drink in one go, still unsure of what it was, as a fast song started up.

"Not dancing?" A voice asked tentatively from behind me.

Turning I said, "No, I don't really feel like it..."

William Jordan came and sat next to me. "I thought you'd turned me down because you'd already been asked."

"I told you, I didn't really want a date."

"Yeah, I just... just thought that maybe—"

"—Maybe I was lying?" he nodded. "No, I was telling you the truth."

"So, I know you don't want a date or anything but... you want to dance? As friends?"

I thought about simply shaking my head and sitting here, feeling sorry for myself. Instead, I smiled up at Will, looking at him through my eyelashes, "I'd love to."

I spent the first forty-five minutes dancing with Will and his friends, all the songs were fast and by the time a slower one came on and all the happy couples had taken to the dance floor I decided that now would be a good time to get some fresh air and check the walkways for people breaking the rules. I still didn't know what the exact rules that McGonagall had said were but I was clever enough to understand the gist of them.

As soon as I walked into the Entrance Hall the cool air wafting through the open front doors of Hogwarts hit me. It was exactly what I needed to cool myself down.

A couple were kissing passionately in the corner behind the doors; apparently they thought they were invisible. They definitely were not. This was the fourth couple that I had had to break up from kissing (the other three being on the dance floor or in their seats), inside at least ten people within the last hour had been taken back up to their dorms because they were either too drunk to walk anymore (I think one of the drinks had been spiked) or because they had become 'unmanageable'. Eight out of ten had been drunk and, out of the other two who had become 'unmanageable', one had been Fred, whom had I spotted about ten minutes ago sneaking back into the dance.

I cleared my throat when I was close enough to the almost-hidden couple for them to not be able to run away from detentions. Both of them jumped apart and I was shocked to see that the guy was Paul, Angie's date, but the girl was not Angie. This girl had cropped blonde hair and was wearing an electric pink mini dress.

Before I could even react, my mind racing with what I would tell Angie, she spoke from beside me, having crept up on the scene. "This is the girl that you choose to cheat on me with!" she screamed at him. Luckily the music inside the hall was so loud that most people would not hear her. The blonde girl looked completely shocked for a moment, then, in one quick, fluid, surprising motion, slapped Paul across the face and came to stand by us.

"I'm sorry, Angie, I had no idea," she pleaded with Angela in a hard voice, glaring at Paul.

"I don't blame you, Kellie," Angie told her, pulling out her wand and pointing it at a frightened looking Paul. "You scum, get out of my sight." She said calmly and suddenly Paul's face swelled, turned bright red and his tongue stretched to drag along the floor, a disgusting purple colour.

Without hesitating Paul ran away as fast as his legs could carry him, his tongue slightly slowing him down as it dragged along the floor.

All three of us girls turned to each other. "You're going to give me detention now, aren't you?" Kellie asked me dejectedly. "For breaking the rules..."

I looked to Angie, who just shrugged, and replied, "Nah, I think I'll let it go."

Kellie grinned at me. "Thanks Rose. Malfoy was right, you are pretty cool."

"Since when do you talk to Malfoy?" Angie asked her before I could. Kellie, as far as I could remember, was a Sixth Year Hufflepuff whose Muggle family hated all things to do with magic and was deeply religious.

"I don't really," she shrugged her shoulders casually. "I just met him yesterday when I was late back to my Common Room. He almost gave me detention but changed his mind, thank G—Merlin. He told me that you'd told him not to always give _everyone_ detention because they were out late and that some people had genuine reasons. Then he said that you were cool like that and waved me away before he changed his mind." She chuckled. "That's boys pretty preoccupied."

"Oh," was all I could think of to say.

Angie shivered. "Come on, let's get back in there and _dance_."

We agreed and made our way back inside. Angie and Kellie joined Alice, Al, Roxanne, Lily, Tristan and Sam on the dance floor as they danced to a particularly catchy song by the Weird Sisters. I chose to make my way back over to my trusty seat. It wasn't until I had my hands on the back of my chair, ready to pull it out, that I realised that Scorpius was the only person sitting at the table, only one chair between us.

_Well,_ I thought. _I can't just turn around and leave now. Besides, this would be a good time to apologise _again.

"Hey," he said and I froze with my hands on the edges of the chair, having just pulled it out to sit on.

"Scorpius," I replied, a little shocked that he had spoken first, collapsing into my chair. Neither of us spoke for a moment. "Please don't leave—," I hurried to say just as he also spoke.

"I want to apologise, Rose."

"—I don't want – wait, what?" We stared at each other in confusion for a moment. "Why do _you_ want to apologise? I'm the one who acted like an idiot and I've been trying to apologise for ages, I'm just _so_ sorry, I didn't mean what I said at all. You _have _to believe me, Scorpius."

"I do, Rose," he said, pulling out the chair between us and moving over to sit in it. "I just...I acted like an idiot, not you. I just jumped to conclusions. I mean, everyone says things they don't mean when they're upset. I just... overreacted."

"No, you didn't," I argued, leaning forwards on the table so that people couldn't listen in to our conversation. "_I_ called you just the _worst_ thing ever. And I _knew_ you'd hate it but I still said it, and I didn't mean it. I don't even know why I said it."

"Rose, I called you a blood traitor—," he tried to reason with me.

"No, you said that you _might as well have_ called me a blood traitor,"

"—but I still said it. It was stupid. Can we – can we just forget it?" he asked, looking hopeful.

_Why was _he_ looking hopeful? I was the one who needed to apologise._

"If you can accept my apology then I would _love_ to put it behind us," I agreed.

"Definitely," he actually smiled at me and I felt my heart miss a beat.

"You forgive me then?" I had to make sure.

"Definitely," he repeated. And just like that, we were friends again. That incredibly stupid argument had caused us not to speak to each other for an equally as stupid long time.

Quite unexpectedly, Scorpius leaned forwards, closing the small gap between us, wrapped his arms around me and hugged me tightly. I responded after a moment and we hugged right here in the middle of the Hall. It was different hugging Scorpius, maybe it was only because we hadn't had any contact with each other for quite some time.

_No,_ I knew that wasn't it...

In the back of my mind I knew exactly why it felt different being this close to Scorpius... If I had to even think it, let alone say or recognise the truth in it, I would say that _I had only just realised that Scorpius was a __**guy.**_

We pulled apart and grinned at each other, only a few inches apart, as Al, Lucy, Louis and Roxanne came over, depositing a _very _tipsy Fred into one of the chairs around our table.

"I can't believe that he could be so stupid. Mum is going to absolutely _murder_ him," Roxanne was saying.

"And Uncle George?" Lucy asked.

Roxanne shrugged, "He'll probably just congratulate him."

Al turned away from Fred and said, "Hey, Rosie, do you want to dance?" He noticed Scorpius and I sitting together and smiled, "Are you friends again? _Please_ tell me you're friends?"

We both nodded. Louis let out a breath, "Thank Merlin for that."

The others laughed whilst I turned to Al. "So, dancing?"

He beamed down at me. "Yeah, come on."

A slow song was playing, the last of the evening by the Weird Sisters, and couples were dancing on the floor. Al and I found a spot near to the edge of the dance floor and I wrapped my arms round his neck as he placed his round my waist. I saw Alice spot us as she went to sit down by Fred, looking alarmed at his expression of exuberance.

"Just borrowing my favourite cousin for a minute," I called over to her, referring to Al, and she laughed but nodded. All my other cousins turned to look at me.

"What about me?" Lucy joked.

"I thought _I _was your favourite cousin?" Dom asked.

"Hey!" Fred slurred in his drunken state.

"I'm not going to let you borrow my clothes anymore, Rose," Lily called back.

"It's you who steals _my_ clothes, Lily," I laughed. I heard her mutter "That's so true," to the others as I turned back to face Al. He was smiling at me.

"What?" I asked, self-conscious.

"I'm your favourite cousin?" he beamed.

I slapped him on the arm. "Of course you are."

"Thank Dumbledore for that," Al laughed.

"So who do you think the next band will be?" I asked him as we swayed slowly to the music.

"I've heard it's Celestina Warbeck," he joked, chuckling when I punched him on the arm this time.

"Isn't she dead?" I asked.

"Not yet," he replied casually.

"Well she's got to be getting there sometime soon,"

"Trust me, Rose; we'd never hear the end of it from Nana Molly."

That was true, Grandma Weasley was probably the biggest Celestina Warbeck fan _ever_ – she'd even recommended her songs to my Muggle grandparents. My mother had repeatedly told her parents that they didn't_ have _to listen to the same music as Molly, whilst my father laughed every time somebody mentioned it. But apparently Grandma Granger and Granddad Granger _loved_ her music.

The song finished and Al and I returned to our table where a group of six of my cousins, including a now thoroughly drunk Fred, were playing Exploding Snap. _Did they have to play it __**everywhere**__?_

"Where's Scorpius?" I asked them all, collapsing once again into my chair. Scorpius' jacket had been thrown over the chair next to mine but he was nowhere in sight.

"Getting drinks," Roxanne muttered back to me, still staring at her game, apparently deep in concentration.

Scorpius appeared a few minutes later, tie loosened, shirt untucked and top buttons undone – in which time Hugo's hair had been burnt at the ends and Lucy had given up playing against him; he _was _the champion of Exploding Snap. Scorpius was levitating about ten drinks carefully through the crowds of people. He was chatting away with William Jordan as they both sat down, taking a drink after placing the others in the middle of the table.

At the other end of the table there was another bang and the rest of Hugo's hair turned black. I waved my wand quickly and casually in his direction and it all turned green.

"Rose!" Hugo complained, immediately noticing it's colour change – his hair was growing somewhere between his shoulders and the bottom of his ears now so it frequently fell into his eyes. "What was that for?"

"Serves you right for letting it get burnt," I told him sternly. "At least it's not black."

"But it's not _normal _either!" he said exasperatedly. "Change it back!"

"Alright," I mumbled, waving my wand again casually in his direction. "If you insist, Hugh."

"Thank you," he smiled at me and then returned to his game muttering, "sisters".

"Tough love," Scorpius commented.

I shrugged. "Someone has to do it."

Taking another sip of my drink I realised that the band playing had changed and it was now my favourite song by a band called Hippogriff High.

"This song..." I started.

"It's 'Maybe We Should Dance' by Hippogriff High," Scorpius informed me.

"I know," I mumbled back absentmindedly, still paying more attention to the song than the conversation. "It's my favourite song."

"Mine too," Scorpius smiled at me and then stood up. "Want to dance?"

"Sure," I agreed and, taking the others hand so that we didn't get separated, we made our way to the middle of the dance floor where people were literally bashing into others because the floor was so crowded.

We danced for a bit to that song and then for another two before I shouted over the music and all the chattering to Scorpius, "It's a shame we can't get to the front."

He smirked at me, "Yes we can."

Grabbing my hand again I let him push past people, who didn't care about being shoved at all, and pull me to the front.

"Can you see?" He asked me. I nodded rather than strain my voice through shouting too much.

After another three or so songs of just dancing, jokingly doing the robot on my part and the running man on Scorpius' and then as dirty as possible with each other (I _swear_ somebody spiked my drink a little because I would _not_ have let myself get close to Scorpius like _that_ under normal circumstances, it wasn't spiked too much though as I was still level headed... sort of), Alice found us. "Shouldn't you two be checking the corridors at some point? There's only another fifteen minutes until they get The Chosen to play the last few songs."

I nodded to Alice, "Thanks. Come on, Scor, we better do some patrolling."

He agreed and we just about made our way off the dance floor before a number one song started to play and loads more students flooded the floor.

Again, the cool air in the Entrance hall was just what I needed to cool down. We made our way out of the main doors to Hogwarts and stood on the steps, looking out across the grounds. Strangely enough there was nobody about.

It was a full moon tonight, the moonlight shining off of the Black Lake (and my sparkling dress) and illuminating the peaceful grounds. There was a slight breeze as the wind rustled the trees surrounding the Forbidden Forest. There was a light glow coming from Hagrids Cabin along with smoke from his chimney, evidently he had a fire ablaze.

I shivered slightly.

"Want my jacket?" Scorpius asked.

I just stared at him for a moment. He didn't realise the obvious. "Scor, you're not wearing your jacket."

He looked down as if checking, in case I was lying or something. "Oh yeah," he smiled up at me. "Oops..."

"Don't worry about it," I laughed at him.

"How about this," he pulled me closer to him and flung his arms over my shoulders as I hugged him in the wind, my arms round his neck and my head resting on his shoulder so that I was looking sideways at his neck. Hugging him made me much warmer.

After a few minutes of silence, in which we could only hear the bass line of a new song playing inside the hall, I glanced up at Scorpius and muttered, "This isn't really patrolling, you know."

He smiled, "Yeah, but patrolling would just ruin the fun."

I thought about this for a moment and then realised what I should have just asked somebody before, "Those rules that McGonagall was talking about earlier... what were they, exactly?"

He chuckled in my ear, "You weren't listening?"

"Define 'listening'?"

"Oh, Rosie... I thought you weren't a rebel."

I pretended to look hurt by this statement. "Of course I am."

"Oh really?"

"Really," I assured him.

"Prove it then," he whispered seductively back to me.

I don't know what caused me to do it. Maybe it was the slight bit of alcohol that I had had (although that wasn't enough to harm a fly). Maybe it was the moonlight and the peacefulness that I felt in the atmosphere when I was near Scorpius. Maybe it was simply inevitable. Who cares really, all that matters was that I _did_ do it.

I pushed Scorpius lightly so that he had to take a step backwards, hitting the solid wooden doors of Hogwarts, and pulled my body right up against his. Without even hesitating I crashed my lips against his roughly. His arms tightened around my waist as he responded, almost immediately, deepening the kiss.

My hands tangled in his hair as I held on tight to him, a passion I didn't know I held inside me bubbling up and releasing itself in these kisses that Scorpius and I shared. He trailed his lips down the side of my jaw line and then back up to meet my lips as I wrapped one of my legs around his.

It was the most blissful moment until I heard my name being shouted by somebody just round the corner of the doors. We broke apart at the exact moment that Alice turned the corner to see us.

"Hey..." she said into the silence. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," We both replied in unison.

Alice looked between us as I ran my hand through my hair and Scorpius coughed. "Okay, well, McGonagall is looking for you both. She says that she wants you to speak before the final dance which is in, like, two minutes."

"Oh, right, thanks Alice," I smiled at her and she smiled back.

"Seriously, what are you doing out here in the cold?" She asked again, looking between Scorpius and me, and the unusually large gap between us.

"We're just... err, you know... cooling down," I stuttered.

"Yeah, it's very warm inside," Scorpius added a little too quickly.

For a moment I thought Alice wouldn't believe us but then she nodded her head and said, "It _is_ boiling, Al keeps complaining."

"Come on then," I told them both. "We better get inside."

"Good idea," Scorpius agreed.

_Thank Merlin that Alice hadn't seen us._ I inwardly sighed with relief as we turned to go back inside.

The relief only lasted a second though as she turned to Scorpius as told him, "By the way, you have some of Rose's lipstick just..." she pointed to somewhere around the corner of her own mouth, "there."

Then she walked back inside whilst Scorpius muttered, "Shit," under his breath and tried to wipe it away with the back of his hand.

We stared at each other for a moment and then burst into laughter.

"At least it was Alice and not McGonagall; we would have broken one of her rules."

"At least there's that," I agreed as my laughter subsided.

"Rose, your lipstick just does _not_ come off," Scorpius complained, now desperately rubbing his face with his hand.

"Yes it does, come here," I pulled him closer to me and carefully wiped away the last traces of make-up.

We stood there, right next to each other, in silence for a few seconds. It was actually quite awkward as the realisation that we had done something wrong crept up in the back of our minds, but not _why_ it was wrong. Then, with a shrug of both our shoulders, we wrapped our arms around each other and continued our passionate snogging. One of my hands rested in the back pocket of his trousers and the other lightly on his back as his tangled their way one through my hair and the other one gently on my shoulder.

Scorpius turned us around so that I was wedged between the cold wooden doors of Hogwarts and his strong, warm body. To be honest, I loved it. Okay, so this _was_ the same Scorpius whose last name was 'Malfoy' and whose forehead I had charmed to read 'I like men' just weeks earlier. And right now I simply didn't care. Again, I felt his lips move down my neck (Merlin, I was going to have a few marks over me tomorrow) until they became increasingly lower and lower. My hand found its way back into his hair and the other pulled him tighter to me as his lips captured mine once more and his hands cupped my face gently.

We were interrupted by Alice again, only about five minutes later, by the clearing of her throat. We hadn't even heard her approach us this time.

"Merlin, am I going to have to throw water over you both?" She whispered fiercely. "Get inside before people start whispering, everybody's waiting for you."

"Oops," I smiled at her tentatively.

Scorpius grabbed my hand and pulled me back through the doors, into the Entrance Hall, straightening his clothes and hair while he went and I did the same. As we entered the hall he let go of my hand, making sure that there was obvious distance between us, and we made our way through the crowds of people to the stage.

Scorpius wiped the heel of his hand over his bottom lip discreetly as I magnified my voice again with '_Sonorus'_ and addressed the hall of students.

"Hey, everyone, I hope you've all had lots of fun tonight. You've, mostly, all been great this evening – really well behaved and stuck to the rules. There were a few exceptions, and those of you know who you are, who have been given detention and hopefully will behave better next time we hold an event similar to this. Overall, though, you've all been brilliantly and... err, I hope you all had fun... and Merry Christmas. Scorpius?" I turned to him and performed the counter spell so that my voice was no longer magnified. I caught his discreet wink in my direction just before he turned to the hall full of our school.

"Yeah, Rose said it all really so just Merry Christmas."

The other students in the hall chorused back with a cheery 'Merry Christmas' also as The Chosen made their way back on stage to play the last song of the evening.

Scorpius and I found our way back over to our table.

"Ha, what do you know," Scorpius exclaimed, looking down at his seat. "It's my jacket."

I replied with a sarcastic, "Ha, ha," as I sat down in my seat. The other members of my family were there also.

"Will you dance with me, Alice?" Al asked her politely and she took his offered hand happily, giving me a pointed '_I-need-to-have-words-with-you- Rose-Weasley look'_ and they walked out to the dance floor where a slow song was now playing with a beautiful piano part playing the main melody.

"That was one of my dreams," I whispered, more to myself than Scorpius but he heard me anyway.

"What was?"

"Playing the piano," I replied.

"It's not anymore?" he asked me, still in hushed tones.

"I don't know how I'd ever go about learning it," I sighed.

Scorpius didn't reply for a moment and I thought that he just thought I was stupid for wanting to play a Muggle instrument. Then he breathed back, so quietly that I had to strain to hear him, "I can play the piano."

"You can?" I think my shock was evident in my voice as well as my actions as my face snapped up to look at him.

He nodded. "I can teach you if you like."

I smiled but didn't get round to saying anything back as Roxanne, Lily, Al and Louis appeared and sat down opposite us.

"Seriously, _Albus_, why can't you just leave me alone?" Lily was obviously angry at Al but, luckily, she wasn't shouting at him. Yet.

"I can't believe that my fourteen year old sister was kissing a sixteen year old Slytherin guy in the middle of a corridor and she's telling me to just _leave her alone," _Al replied. I couldn't see Alice anywhere in sight.

Sighing, I turned to Roxanne and asked, "What are they arguing about this time?"

"Lily was kissing Tristan and now Al's gone all 'older-brother-ish' about it," she told me.

"But isn't Lily dating Tristan?" I pointed out.

"It doesn't matter!" Al exclaimed at us all. "She shouldn't be snogging Slytherin's."

"Oh, Al," I told him. "Let it go, if it's any consolation Lily'll probably be dating a Gryffindor next anyway."

"What do you mean?" Lily asked me suddenly.

"Well," I started. I knew I had to choose my words carefully. "If you do break up with Tristan, like this year, it's kind of obvious that Sam will ask you out."

Thankfully my girl cousins nodded they heads or verbally agreed with me.

"Sam?" Lily asked softly. I nodded as a response. "Sam likes me?"

"Yeah," Dom sighed. "A lot, Lils."

"Really?" She asked us again for confirmation. When we agreed she stood up. "I'm going to talk to him."

"What about Tristan?" Louis asked her.

"We... we sort of called it off a few minutes ago,"

"Why?" I asked.

"I wasn't sure then, but now I know it was because, well... because _I_ like _Sam_," she said and turned, disappearing into the crowds to find him as the last song of the night finished.

We all looked at little disappointed as we traipsed up the staircase together, one large Weasley family with the Potters and a few other friends.

"It's a shame tonight's over," Dom announced. "It was fun."

"Fun would definitely be one word to describe tonight," Scorpius agreed, shooting a covert glance in my direction. I blushed and Alice shot me a '_it's your own problem' _look.

"But you know what..." Roxanne started and we all looked to her, wondering where she was going with this sentence. "It's Christmas soon and then what's happening?"

I knew straight away and answered her whilst the others just looked confused. "Teddy and Victoire are getting married!"

We all went to bed with smiles on our faces.

Mine lasted just until I was lying in my bed, with the silence letting me process my thoughts and clearing my head of the confidence the slight bit of alcohol in my system had given me.

_Oh Merlin. What now? _Scorpius Malfoy was not a one-kiss guy. _At least, not in my books._

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><p><strong>When I uploaded chapter one I read it back and really wasn't pleased with the way it was written, but reading this back I actually like it. I hope you liked this chapter too! More coming real soon. :D<strong>_ Please drop me a review, it'll only take a second, cause I really want to know what you think! :D  
><em>


	11. I Couldn't Avoid Him If I Tried

**I couldn't wait to upload this because you have all been wonderful in responding to this story and I was just sitting around trying to write some of my other fics thinking 'Well, I may as well upload it'. So here it is! I hope you like it.**

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><p><em>My life was officially over.<em>

By the time I had boarded the Hogwarts Express the next morning - complete with attempting other obstacles that morning such as levitating my trunk through the fog and snow, ducking behind a tapestry to avoid talking to Will Jordan, tripping up the stairs to my dormitory twice in a row - and sobered up I realised what a stupid mistake kissing Scorpius had been.

_And I'd acted as a complete idiot and just thrown myself at him._

_But you liked it really._

_Shut up.  
><em>

I found an empty compartment for my family and sat down, contemplating what an idiot I was and waiting for the others to hurry up and get on the train. Lily, especially, was a slow walker.

Just as I thought about getting up and looking for them through all the snow, ice, cold and students the door to the compartment slid open and Alice deposited herself next to me, sighing.

"I'm seriously considering becoming a nun because men are just _not worth it_," she told me jokingly.

"What's that cousin of mine done now?" I asked.

Alice put on a deep voice, which I supposed was her version of Al, "'Don't worry, Ally, I'm sure I can balance _at least_ six trunks in the air – seven won't make much of a difference.'" She rolled her eyes as I started to laugh, returning back to her normal voice and muttering under her breath, "Idiot."

"Just one question Alice," I told her seriously, then grinned. "Does he really call you Ally?"

"Shut up," she playfully slapped me whilst unravelling Al's Gryffindor scarf from around her neck – Alice didn't _have _a scarf, not since that Hippogriff incident two years ago anyway.

"No, no, I think it's sweet."

"You do?" she seemed unsure.

"I do."

We smiled at each other for a moment, Alice looked a bit grateful that I hadn't simply mocked her for her nickname like Angie, Dom or Roxanne would have.

Then, from behind Alice's head, Scorpius walked past the glass windows, pausing in front of the doors and looking around through the students and into the carriages.

Without hesitating I threw myself flat onto the floor. I didn't particularly fancy talking with him about that kiss ('_those kisses' would be more accurate; _part of my brain corrected me), like I would have to if he saw me because, knowing Scorpius, he'd ask Alice for a moment alone with me if it was only us and her but if there were a lot of people he would wait. If I had a choice, I'd choose the second option – later rather than sooner.

Alice looked alarmed for a moment and then, once she had turned and waved to Scorpius, rolled her eyes at me from my position lying flat against the floor and praying that Scorpius wouldn't open the carriage door and trip over me.

"Has he gone?" I hissed to her.

Still waving at him, Alice muttered back, trying to keep her lips as motionless as possible, "Not yet."

I sighed as Alice added; "Now he has."

I hauled myself up off the floor a few inches so that if I craned my neck I could see into the hallway. Scorpius, still there unlike what Alice had just told me, turned to look straight in my direction at that exact moment and, again, I dropped to the floor in less than a second, simply opting for releasing my arms from under my body, almost crushing my face against the wooden floor in my haste.

"Alice!" I hissed again into the floor whilst she laughed uncontrollably from her seat above me.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Okay, now he definitely has gone."

"Really?" I asked to be sure.

"Really."

I looked up to see Scorpius' white head of hair continue down the corridor.

Sitting back up at my seat next to Alice I smacked her lightly on the shoulder. "What was that for?"

"Me?" She asked, affronted. "You're the one avoiding him."

"I'm not avoiding Scorpius, Ally, don't be silly," I tried to tell her casually, waving my hand to support the idea and turning to look out the window at the last remains of students filing onto the train.

"Oh, yeah," she replied sarcastically. "Because that's how you normally start your train rides – with a few press-ups."

"I'm trying new things," I muttered back absentmindedly.

"What, like kissing best friends?"

I spun to face her whilst practically yelling, "Shh." I looked around even though there was nobody else in our compartment, and the students outside couldn't hear us. "Don't just tell everyone! You didn't tell anyone, did you?"

She rolled her eyes at me again, "Of course I didn't, Rosie."

"Thank you," I told her gratefully.

"So why _are_ you avoiding him?"

"It just a stupid thing that we did and I don't really feel like facing it at the moment," I answered, trying to give as less specifics as possible. "Besides, it's not like anything has changed."

"Hasn't it?" Alice asked me seriously, looking straight into my eyes.

The compartment door slid open again as Al (looking _very _cold without a coat or scarf because he had bravely lent them to Alice, who forgot her coat every year), Louis, Roxanne, Lucy, Scorpius, Lily and Sam filed in and sat down. Al sat next to Alice, and Scorpius, thankfully, sat next to him so that we had one happy couple squashed between us and couldn't make eye contact easily. The others sat opposite, Lily and Sam with their arms around each other.

"There you are, Rosie!" Al exclaimed once he had sat down.

I remained staring at Alice, leaning forwards to see her over him. "And no, Alice, it hasn't," I told her. The others looked confused but we both ignored their questions.

"Well you looked a little cosy from where I stood," she told me kindly.

"What _are_ you on about?" Louis interrupted us.

"Of course not," I denied firmly.

"Fine, Rosie," Alice sighed, leaning her head on Al's shoulder. "But no matter how much you deny it, you _know_ I'm right."

I huffed a lot for the next few seconds in the silence of the compartment. Suddenly Al told me, "We didn't know where you were."

"Right here..." I mumbled, bringing my book up to cover my face and pointedly avoiding looking in Scorpius' direction because I knew I'd blush obviously if I did.

Alice pushed it back down so that I couldn't read. "Socialise a bit, Rose."

I made a face as if to say '_Must I really?' _as Scorpius leaned across Al and Alice to steal my book. I caught the scent of his cologne and suddenly wished, despite the cold and snow outside, that the windows were wide open. It beat the alternative thought at the back of my mind which was imagining that I stood up, sat myself on Scorpius' lap and snogged him senseless.

"Hey!" I complained to rid my mind of that second, much more prominent, thought, trying to snatch my book back, but I was too slow. Scorpius simply smirked at me and turned it over to read the blurb.

After a minute he mumbled a satisfied 'hmm' and then pushed it down the gap between his seat and the window facing into the corridor. "You can have it back later, Rose."

"Gee, thanks," I muttered sarcastically at him whilst folding my arms. "How kind of you."

"Okay, okay, stop arguing children," Dom tried to shush us. "Merlin, they're exactly like Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione."

Sam, Lily, Louis and Al laughed at her statement, most likely because it was true.

"Except..." Roxanne started. "What was it that Aunt Ginny said was their reason for arguing so much?"

"She put it down to sexual tension," Lucy giggled. Roxanne joined in with her laughter and so did all the guys, except Scorpius.

"What, you don't think that there's sexual tension between Rose and Scorpius?" Alice asked them, grinning mischievously at me and trying not to laugh herself.

I felt my body tense and, even though it was possibly the worst thing I could do in that situation, I turned to look at Scorpius.

The expression on his face shocked me completely. I was prepared for anger, for embarrassment, even for laughter. I wasn't prepared for... well, the only way I could explain what he was trying to silently tell me was _pleading_.

Al's next sentence made me jump and I quickly turned to him, realising that only a few seconds had passed. "There better not be."

"Shut up, Al, even you know it's true," Alice laughed at him.

"Erm, no offence guys... I mean, it's not like this conversation doesn't _fascinate_ me, or anything, but I'd rather _not_ talk about sexual tension between me and-and guys."

I couldn't make myself say "_Sexual tension between me and Scorpius"_ because it would be extremely uncomfortable, especially after last night.

Much to my surprise, Scorpius laughed. "It's alright if you find me attractive, Rose. Everybody does." He grinned at me cheekily and I glared at him.

"I do not find you attractive," I breathed. _Was it only me who could hear that I meant the total opposite?_

The rest of my family laughed at that. "Okay, okay, Rose, whatever you say," Dom told me sarcastically.

"Leave me alone."

"We can't when you come out with such blatant lies like that, Rosie," Scorpius told me. _Merlin, he was so big-headed sometimes._

"Fine!" I gave up with arguing, only wanting my book back to read in peace. I stood up and walked the two steps so that I was in front of Scorpius. Leaning over so that my hair brushed over my left shoulder and into his face, I grabbed my book and muttered to him, "I find you attractive, alright?"

He looked a little shocked for a moment but then smirked at me whilst my family laughed. Alice tried to shoot me strange looks after that, but I avoided her gaze as much as possible. To the others, it was only some fun.

I didn't speak much more during the train ride, only when spoken to or when participating every now and then in the hour-and-a-half long Quidditch conversation to which we all decided that, when asked this holiday which team was the best, we would reply with either the Chudley Cannons or the Holyhead Harpies depending on the last name of the person who asked us. If it was a Potter we'd say the Holyhead Harpies in case Aunt Ginny threatened us and if it was a Weasley (my dad was most likely to ask us this) we would say the Chudley Cannons because he would probably complain about it to my mother for the next two weeks if we said another team.

As the train pulled into the station I realised just how much I had missed my parents these past few months. Strangely enough I missed their silly little arguments the most because they brightened up the conversations. I missed Aunt Ginny's constant threat of throwing water over them whenever they wouldn't shut up and I missed Uncle Harry's calmness and the way he would just stand out of the way and wink at me whenever they were on the point of raising their voices. And I definitely missed Nana Molly's food and her constant fussing.

I retrieved my trunk quickly and hopped off the train, straight into my father's arms.

"Dad!" I exclaimed, hugging him back.

"How have you been, Rosie?" He grinned at me as we pulled apart and took in my appearance. "You look older."

"You too, dad," I laughed. "I've been good, how about you?"

As my father explained to me just how many games he had beaten my mother at whilst playing chess I heard my other cousins greeting their parents. Aunt Ginny fussed like only she could over Al and Lily and even Scorpius whilst James laughed and mocked Al about having a girlfriend and Uncle Harry reminded James that _he_ didn't have a girlfriend.

My mother's voice caught my attention before I even saw her as she called through the smoke, "I told you that bragging wasn't good, Ronald."

"I wasn't bragging, was I, Rosie?" My father asked me and winked behind my mothers back.

"Of course not," I said whilst laughing and my mother enveloped me in a big hug along with Hugo, who had just arrived.

"Are we going straight to the Burrow then, mum?" Hugo asked once we had been released from her hold.

"Yes, with the others."

We turned to see the other members of our family all talking animatedly about the past few months at Hogwarts and the load of homework we'd been given over the holidays.

"Hey, it's Scorpius!" My dad exclaimed happily and waved him over.

"Hey, Mr Ron," Scorpius greeted my dad. He had taken to calling all my uncles and aunties by their first name along with their title because 'Weasley' applied to too many of them.

"Good term, Scorpius?" My dad asked and they started up a conversation about how boring school was.

It was strange seeing them get on so well, you'd think that my father would hate Scorpius simply because of his last name but he didn't. Draco Malfoy and my dad simply nodded to each other and communicated by short, curt sentences. Don't let this fool you though; I knew for a fact that my dad would kill Scorpius' grandfather in a second if he ever had the chance.

"Scorpius?" I heard a woman's soft voice call and then the owner stepped into view from the smoke next to my mother, carrying a child in her arms.

She was one of the most beautiful people I had ever seen, her long golden blonde hair fell to her waist and her green eyes stood out against her soft features. The little girl holding her hand looked like a miniature version of her, beaming up at Scorpius with the same eyes as her mother.

I looked to Scorpius and saw him smiling at the girl as she beamed back at him. "Mum! What are you doing here?" he asked the woman. "I told you I'm spending Christmas at the Burrow, right?"

"Claire wanted to see you to give you your Christmas present from her," Astoria Malfoy explained happily.

"This is Claire?" I blurted out before I could think.

"Rose?" Claire asked me and her voice was sweet and happy. I nodded. "I've been dying to meet you."

Scorpius' sister spoke like an adult and for a moment I was caught off guard and confused, but I quickly recovered.

"You have?" I asked a little warily.

"Of course, Scorpius talks about you _all the time_."

I was pretty sure that Scorpius blushed more than me, both of us turning crimson in about a second.

"He... he does?" I asked her, letting out a laugh that was meant to be casual but came out shaky and awkward.

"And he _said_ that you were beautiful," she told me happily whilst her brother dropped his head into his hands and I blushed even more. "I wish I had hair like yours."

My father beamed with pride at that because my hair was the exact colour that his was. "We can swap," I offered jokingly. "I honestly prefer yours."

Before Claire could continue the conversation Scorpius interrupted us. "Okay, so everyone has nice hair and Claire's successfully embarrassed me – isn't it about time this little gathering broke up?"

Claire laughed as I rolled my eyes. "He's so impatient."

"I know, right?" She agreed and Scorpius threw his hands in the air in an '_Oh, my god, why do I even bother!_' kind of way.

"He's right though, Rosie," my mother told me. "Molly will be waiting for us all."

"Good, let's go then," Scorpius quickly agreed, placing his hands on my shoulders and attempting to steer me round and away from his family.

I ducked under his arms, trying to join the others again but he stretched one of his arms out to the side as a barrier and I couldn't get passed. _So much for avoiding him._ "Hey! Let me past," I told him, crossing my arms.

"You know, Rosie, we really must be going. You know what they say, '_Time's a Virtue'_, or something like that," he reminded me, waving his hands about in a nonchalant way. I only took advantage of this by ducking under his moving arm and joining the others again.

"Don't you want your Christmas present, Scor?" I asked him happily. "And it's _'Patience is a Virtue'_."

"Same thing," he mumbled back whilst Claire fished in her pocket and pulled out a small, neatly wrapped box about the size that an engagement ring came in. She handed it to Scorpius exclaiming, "Happy Christmas!"

He said thank you and opened it.

Inside the box was, indeed, a ring. This was more like a friendship ring – it was small with one silver band. Looking closer I realised that there were words engraved into it but I couldn't read them from where I stood.

I moved closer to Scorpius, leaned over so that my cheek almost touched his and looked at his ring, mumbling, "What's it say?"

"I love you," He read aloud from the ring, turning his head to face me so that we were close together. For a moment I felt as if I couldn't move, like his gaze had trapped me and I was stuck staring into his eyes.

I took a step back abruptly. "Come on, it's probably time we got going," I hurried to say, hearing Aunt Ginny calling to us over the noise of other students and their families at the station.

I waved to Astoria and Claire and quickly made my escape.

_What happened to not getting too close, Rose?_

* * *

><p>Nana Molly fussed much more than usual when we all arrived at the Burrow. The only ones that stayed behind to wait for us were the Potters, Angie and Alice. It was probably better that way though because there were way too many of us for Nana to choose from if we had all come together. However, arriving in a smaller group did mean that we couldn't slip away quietly like Al and I usually did.<p>

"Rosie!" She exclaimed even before I stepped through the doorway and caught me off guard in a crushing hug. "How are you, dear? Are you eating well? You look a little thin. Don't worry; I've got some soup for you in the kitchen."

Nana Molly smiled at me and I grinned back. After all these years I'd learnt to just go along with her feeding so I hurried to the kitchen whilst she fussed over Al.

Roxanne, Uncle George, Aunt Audrey, Uncle Charlie, Dom, Aunt Fleur, Teddy and Victoire were all sitting around the table eating my grandma's famous onion soup.

"Weasleys," I greeted them all and each of them looked up at a different time. "Including honorary members and future Lupin's," I added, smiling in Victoire's direction.

"Rose!" she jumped up and came over to hug me, when she pulled away and practically forced me into a chair with a bowl of soup, I smiled again. "How have you been?"

"Victoire," I laughed at her, not unkindly. "Do you really want to be talking about my boring life right now? You're _getting married_ in, like, a week!"

At this Teddy came over to join us from his previous position sitting by the window. "Yeah, we are!" He agreed happily, wrapping his arms around Victoire's waist.

"Now, Rose," Victoire started, and I knew she was going to say something serious about the wedding. "You _do _know what you're doing in the wedding, right?"

I so badly wanted to agree, but I couldn't, so I just kept quiet._ 'What I'm doing in the wedding'? What did that mean?_

She groaned. "Okay, okay, Aunt Hermione _at least_ told you that you're a bridesmaid, right?" When I was silent and only looked shocked Victoire buried her head in her hands. "Oh, Merlin, this is _so_ not good."

"Calm down, Tory," Teddy whispered in her ear from behind her. "Everything's going to be fine."

"No, everything's going wrong now. Damn all the women in this family, if only we were having a small wedding."

"It's only Rose who doesn't know what she's doing, everything else is sorted," Teddy said.

"What about the flowers—"

"—at the reception? That's been sorted."

"And the bridesmaid dresses?"

"Sorted."

"What about the band?"

"Sorted, as well. Victoire, please, just relax." And she did, she visible relaxed and sighed.

Before I could even open my mouth to ask what I was meant to be doing as a bridesmaid (I think my mum _had_ mentioned it to me in her letter) in the wedding, which was only five days away, Nana Molly came through the door looking immensely happy, followed by a blushing Al, a shy looking Alice and a thoroughly amused Scorpius.

"And it's just so sweet," Nana was saying. "You haven't ever brought a girlfriend to see me, Albus."

"Actually, Nana," Al quickly said. "Alice is Rose's best friend as well..."

Alice nodded quickly a few time, standing behind Al.

"You were sure to have a few girlfriends, Al. Isn't he handsome?" Molly asked Alice, who nodded again and quickly escaped to the sitting room where more of my family were.

"What about you, Rosie? Where are your boyfriends?"

I swear, if I could have killed Scorpius without going to Azkaban, I would have. He looked just so... so _smug_. So what if I hadn't had any proper boyfriends?

I quickly shot a glare in his direction and then turned back to Molly, "I don't have any... and I don't plan to any time soon. I have NEWTs coming up and between studying for them and my Head Girl duties and Quidditch practice I barely have time to sleep."

"Merlin, sometimes you're too much like Ron, but you really are your mother's daughter," she smiled at me and then turned back to where she was cooking some more onion soup.

"Well..." Scorpius started to say. "I'm going to go see if Mrs H wants any help with the luggage."

As he left the room Nana Molly mumbled to us all through the silence, "Such a sweet boy."

I snorted. "I wouldn't bet on that, Nana."

She laughed but didn't comment. I caught Victoire looking at me and turned to her. She gave me a _much _too knowing look and I quickly sat down and shovelled spoonful of soup into my mouth without looking up.

By the time I'd finished the only other person in the kitchen was Aunt Audrey, who was writing a report for work at the table, and, judging by the noise coming from the living room, the rest of my family were decorating the Christmas tree.

It was an event that I particularly looked forward to when we returned home for the Christmas holidays so I hurriedly cleared my plates with magic, shot upstairs to change into comfortable clothes and bounced towards the living room into, what was possibly, the most chaotic scene I'd ever witnessed.

My Uncles (yes, that does mean all of them) and my father were all standing in a huddled group around a box, pulling a variety of decorations out of it and then promptly dropping them on the floor once they had showed it to the other men around them. My mother had to keep picking them up and pass them to my brother, but he only placed them absentmindedly on the tree whilst really too engrossed in his book to notice what was going on. The result of Hugo's random wand-waving was that the decorations were flying all about the room, my mother was yelling at him but Hugo evidently had no idea that it was _him_ that she was yelling at and ignored her.

James, Al, Alice and Roxanne were all chasing around a group of three gnomes that they had captured from the backyard (like they did every year). Except, the gnomes didn't want to be charmed green and red with fake white beards, stunned and then placed on top of the tree for the next few weeks. They knew what was coming this year – and so ran about the small living room, trying to find an exit desperately.

Dom, Grandpa Weasley, Victoire and Teddy were shouting back and forwards, across the room, to each other as they stood in one corner per person, trying to pin up a few wall banners without magic and failing every time because only one pin would go into the ceiling, the others refused to follow the first.

A few of my other aunties were wrapping presents not far in front of me, with the wrapping paper set out all over the floor and scissors, cello tape and glue spread out around them too. Each piece registered in my brain as something that I could trip over and fall to the ground because of.

Lastly, Nana Weasley and Scorpius sat on the sofa near to the fire, which was ablaze, having a quiet and polite conversation whilst the others all hurried about them.

I decided to join them – it was the least dangerous situation in the room.

Sitting down beside Scorpius, I heard Nana exclaim, "And she went so red that I thought she was chocking!"

Scorpius started to laugh and shot me a look that immediately told me they'd been talking about me.

"Something funny, Scorpius?" I asked him politely, but my glare told him I meant not to be at all polite.

"Sorry," He mumbled through his laughter, "Mrs Weasley was just telling me some things about you."

"She was, was she?" I glared at Nana Weasley but she just smiled at me and stood up.

"Well, I'm glad you're here now, Rosie, to keep Scorpius busy whilst I finish my cooking," she smiled warmly at me again, winking discreetly, directed her wand towards the fireplace quickly as she went so that the flames shot up again, and headed out of the living room, reprimanding all my uncles and father as she passed them.

I watched my Nana leave and then turned to face Scorpius. He had his feet tucked up onto the sofa and was leaning on the back of it, facing me, so that he could talk through the occasional yells of the adults or the continuous laughter and swearing coming from Al, James, Alice and Roxanne, who were having no success at all in catching the gnomes that still ran around our living room.

Scorpius had also changed into more comfortable clothing. He wore a warm, dark grey sweater and black jeans with large green slipper socks that held the Slytherin emblem on them. The effect was quite pleasant, to be honest.

To rid my mind of these more friendly thoughts I said to him, as he turned back to face me from watching Al trip over Roxanne's feet, "Hey, Scorpius, you'll know this—"

"—I bet I will..." he mumbled confidently and smirked at me with that heart-melting smirk that I knew I secretly loved.

"How many egomaniacs does it take to change a light bulb?"

He looked a little confused but masked it by smirking again and whispering to me intimately, "How many?"

"One," I forced myself to breathe back to him as my mouth went dry. Involuntarily, we slowly moved towards each other so that we were hidden from my family by the sofa back and got closer and closer.

I remembered that there was something I was supposed to be saying.

"And why's that?" He whispered, only a few centimetres from me now.

"They just stand there and wait for the world to revolve around them."

And, just like that, the atmosphere between us shifted and he threw his head back and laughed whilst I smirked at him like we used to do when we were best friends.

His laughter attracted the attention of everybody in the room, causing the chaos to momentarily stop and the gnomes to quickly shot out of the room and over the garden fence.

Alice winked at me and Al and James, standing beside her, both whispered to each other with identical expressions of annoyance etched across their faces. Thankfully, my mum decided to comment before I could really worry about why they were annoyed.

"Shouldn't you be helping, Rosie?" My mother looked at me disapprovingly.

I stood up and made my way over to the smaller box of decorations in the corner of the room that were next to the Christmas tree and started to sort through them. The noise level returned to normal as I started to organise the tinsel around the lights.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Scorpius smirk at me until my mother's voice could be heard calling across the room to him, "Why don't you help Rosie, Scorpius?"

"Sure, Mrs H," he smiled at her sweetly and then, when she had turned away and nobody else but me was watching, he reluctantly got up of the sofa to help me.

It wasn't that Scorpius didn't want to do any work for our family or Christmas, it was because we had to work in a close area together where we were free to talk. I hoped he'd trip on his way over and break his leg, or suddenly feel ill with a migraine, but no such luck came.

_Who knew what I would do when we were together? The longer we were, the more likely I was to do something stupid._

Scorpius reached into the box on the floor between us and wrapped a piece of tinsel around me, holding one end in each of his hands, so that I could only move in the metre gap between our bodies.

Sighing, I turned to face him, realising that we were closer than I thought.

_Why did I always find myself in these situations?_ I sighed.

"Do you mind, Scorpius?" I asked him rudely.

"Not at all."

Silence followed this remark and I simply stared at him whilst he simply stared back into my eyes, looking thoroughly amused.

_I'd never notice how completely flawless his skin was before..._ I felt my face flush bright red when this thought came to mind and looked towards my feet immediately.

Thoughts like that were bad. I mean, this was my _best friend_ I was thinking about. But thinking these things when in the arms of said best friend was another problem entirely. It made things between us so much more real and... _possible._

"Okay, sorry... sorry..." Scorpius mumbled, taking a step away from me and pulling the tinsel round with one hand so that it trailed to the floor beside him. "I was only having fun."

"Is that what you call last night?" Alice smirked at us as she walked past, holding a squirming stray gnome out in front of her as if it was infected with a deadly disease.

With Alice having made a quick exit almost before her sentence was even finished, Scorpius and I locked eyes suddenly. I didn't know what expression his face read at that moment; actually, I'd say it was emotionless and unreadable. But I knew that I had to get away from him and his whole _'charming-jerk-ness'_ as soon as I could or I would do something... something like last night.

Which would not be good.

Especially in front of my entire family.

Instead, I decided to seek refuge in my room.

I ran.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you like this, it's more of a filler chapter to be honest, but there's more, better chapters coming soon, I promise! Maybe even tomorrow, cause I can't bear to leave this as the last chapter at the moment. :D Thank you for reading. Let me know what you think is going to happen? And also, I'm curious - who is your favourite character? :D<strong>


	12. If It Was A Mistake Before

**Thank you all so much for the reviews. Here's chapter 12, I hope you like it. I'm 'meh' with this one again, but I'm sure all you ScoRose shippers will love it. :D**

* * *

><p>I didn't get far before I fell.<p>

Well, duh, this _is _me we're talking about.

So I fell, naturally, and I fell hard. Right over my own feet and hit the stairs, head butting a step and collapsing.

I considered just staying there for a minute to catch my breath and sort out my balance, but then Scorpius rushed straight into my line of vision, turning towards the stairs quickly and then stopping short at the sight of me lying across three steps.

_Must he be so gorgeous all the time?_ I ranted in my head, taking in his appearance again. The short distance of running had caused his hair to come out of its natural places and splayed about his face making him look so much more inviting. He quickly flicked it backwards so that it was out of his eyes and casually rolled up the sleeves of his sweater.

I sighed, partly out of annoyance that he'd appeared _again_ but mostly because I couldn't help noticing how amazing he looked, "Can't you see I'm avoiding you?" I asked irritably.

He simply smirked his world-famous Malfoy smirk and leaned against the wall, supporting his body with one leg bent upwards and behind.

Folding his arms patronisingly, Scorpius reminded me, "Actually, I can't." His eyebrows pulled together in confusion and concentration and it really did seem as if he _couldn't_ see that I was (at least attempting to) avoiding him.

"Well that's because I didn't want it to be too obvious," I huffed as I picked myself up in a desperate attempt to get away from him and stomped up the many stairs to the landing that led to the bedroom that I was sharing with Angie and Alice this Christmas.

Unfortunately, Scorpius decided that this would be a good time to follow me around like a Labrador, so he determinedly mirrored my steps and reached the landing a second after I did.

As soon as I was close enough to my door to touch the handle I spun around, misjudged the distance between us and smacked Scorpius in the face with my own forehead.

"Ouch!" he glared at me whilst rubbing his forehead with one of his hands, but didn't step back.

"Can I help you, Scorpius?" I asked him; this time my tone told him that I wanted to be alone.

He looked straight at me and asked, "Why are you "avoiding" me?" I narrowed my eyes at the speech marks he used his fingers to create around the word 'avoiding'.

"Because," I paused for a moment, collecting the right words from the jumble that had formed inside my head. I decided to go for the simple truth. "Because we... we kissed."

"Well, yeah, that's kind of obvious," he looked like he wanted to laugh but then sobered up when he saw my serious expression. Taking a step towards me and resting his hands either side of my shoulders, Scorpius breathed, "I remember it, Rosie."

I coughed nervously at our close contact. "So you understand then..."

"No, Rose!" He had the sense to stop yelling after those two words once he saw me shoot a nervous glance towards the staircase. "I don't understand that at all. Listen, _you_ kissed _me_. It wasn't the other way around."

I opened my mouth to interrupt him but Scorpius beat me to it. "Okay, so if you hadn't done it then I probably would have."

This time I didn't bother opening my mouth to ask what he was talking about; the words wouldn't form in my head anyway. My jaw opened in shock.

I noticed that he blushed a moment before he spoke his next sentence and focuses his eyes on a spot just above my head. "I don't know _why_, Rose, but... but I do know that I _liked_ kissing you."

"I liked kissing you, too," I admitted, looking down at the floor in embarrassment. _What had possessed me to say __**that?**_

"Right... so, right..." he stumbled across his own words, and then forced me to look into his eyes. "So where does that leave us?"

Before I could react there was a noise that sounded suspiciously of my Uncle Charlie on fire, followed immediately by that of the Christmas tree falling over and my mother's screams, among others, of "Al, you _idiot_!"

My eyes darted away from Scorpius' to the staircase where I could just make out the heads of James, Lily, Dom, Louis, Alice and Hugo. Their voices floated up to us, where we had both frozen.

"Where's Rose got to now?" Hugo asked the others, looking around as if expecting me to jump out from behind the cloak stand beside him singing 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' with a chorus of unnaturally cheery gnomes.

I opened my mouth to call down to them that I was right above where they were standing but Scorpius took another step forwards, standing close enough for me to count his eyelashes (not that I would ever do that), and quickly covered my mouth with his hand, backing me up against the wall firmly between it and his body.

"I haven't seen her for a while, actually," Louis commented. If any of them suddenly looked up they'd see us.

"Maybe we should go look for her?" Hugo asked, unsure. I silently begged for none of them to come looking for me upstairs.

"Good idea," Alice agreed, taking charge. "Us girls will go check upstairs; you boys can look around here."

Whilst I rolled my eyes at Alice's thinking they all agreed and started moving off in different directions. All three girls headed for the stairs.

My eyes made contact with Scorpius' again and before I could even ask him to move his hand he opened the door to my right and pushed me through it silently, closing it firmly behind him.

I was immediately pushed against the wall to my left by Scorpius, who again placed his hand against my mouth so that I didn't speak. I felt like a hostage in a bad movie.

A moment later I heard Alice, Lily and Dom shuffle onto the landing on the opposite side of the door and pause. They spoke briefly about something that I couldn't hear because Scorpius whispered into my ear, "Don't make any sound and they'll ignore us."

And, a minute later, they did move away and up the next set of stairs towards Al and Scorpius' room.

"What was that for?" I asked Scorpius, annoyed again, but my voice came out as a whisper in the darkness and I could just make out Scorpius' smirk as he lowered his hand from my mouth but didn't move.

"I wasn't going to let you go now, not when you've started actually _talking _to me."

"Funny," I told him dryly. "What do you want to know?" I whispered again as his face turned to look at me from a few inches gap.

He sighed, and I caught just how tired he was. "Everything..." he breathed, before changing his mind and saying, "nothing..."

I rolled my eyes in the darkness, knowing that he was close enough to see it. "That's really helpful."

"I feel like something's changed, Rose," he started. "What does any of this mean? I mean, you're probably my best friend – although don't tell Al I said that – and suddenly we're doing things that are _not_ best-friend-ish."

I sighed heavily, totally confused. "I know, I feel the change, too."

We stood in silence for a minute as the voices of my three girl cousins currently looking for me and a few other members of my family drifted through the ceiling to us.

I squirmed after a while once I realised that we were unnecessarily close but there was nothing that I could do about it with Scorpius' body in the way. I would ask him to move, but it seemed like he was deep in thought.

Eventually, Scorpius' eyes focused on my face and breathed, "So if we both like kissing each other... why aren't we doing it now?"

My heartbeat stopped, I swear it. I knew that what I really wanted to do was kiss this stupidly-good-looking guy in front of me, but it was wrong... wrong for a million and one different reasons.

"It's wrong," I breathed back as his hand came up to gently move a piece of hair from over my eye and place it back behind my ear.

"Is it?"

"Err, well..." I stuttered as he started kissing my neck. "It... I mean, we should probably..."

_What was I saying again?_

"Hmm?" He asked softly against my skin.

I knew it was wrong but, hey, I'm just a teenager.

"For Merlin's sake, Scorpius, you're such a rebel!" I exclaimed softly, but pulled his chin up so that I could kiss him back.

Scorpius seemed a little shocked at my sudden change in decision for a short moment, but then responded by wrapping one of his arms around my waist and using the other to cup my face. I brought my arms up to rest on his chest and sighed happily.

After a while he deepened the kiss, and I knew, again, that I shouldn't be even kissing him on the cheek, but Scorpius Malfoy was just too... irresistible.

_Merlin, I've turned into every 'Scorpius Stalker' in my school._

Like most happy moments in my life, they were ruined when the light switch was flicked on abruptly and the door slammed open.

Without even hesitating, I shot my arms out, shoving Scorpius away from me and flying across the room. His legs collided with the bed behind him and his knees buckled as he fell flat onto his back, rolled over in a backwards roly poly and landed with a loud _thump _on the floor on the opposite side of the bed.

I turned quickly, straightening up and fixing my hair promptly as Alice '_hmpf-ed'_ from the doorway.

"Rose!" Scorpius' voice called in an irritated tone from behind the bed a second before his head came into view above the mattress and he sat up.

"Sorry," I told him shyly.

Alice ignored our conversation completely, "For _Dumbledore's_ sake! I leave you both alone for less than," she checked her watch, "less than twenty minutes and you're already snogging in a deserted room."

"It _was _deserted..." I mumbled impolitely under my breath.

"...until you appeared..." Scorpius added sulkily.

"Well you better thank your lucky hippogriffs that it was _me_ that found you and not somebody else like... oh, I don't know... Rose's many angry male cousins."

"Good point," Scorpius mumbled as I tilted my head in a '_That's a fair point'_ kind of way.

"Exactly," Alice agreed with her own point. She was being a little moody, but seeing as her interruption had possibly saved Scorpius' life from '_Death by Testosterone_' I ignored it."Now will you both _please_ keep your hands off each other for more than three minutes and get back downstairs to the others. Rose, your Nana wants us all to drink hot chocolate and listen to Celestina Warbeck before we go to bed."

"Like every year," I smiled.

"Isn't she dead?" Scorpius asked as I stepped forwards and offered him my hand to help him up.

"Apparently not," Alice replied casually as we walked back downstairs and into the Weasley-infested living room.

"There you are!" Nana Molly exclaimed over the noise of the cheering on the small wireless radio that stood in the centre of the coffee table and the arguments of my cousins and uncles.

Alice immediately went to sit by Al; Nana Molly, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry caught each others eyes and smiled at this. I made to step over to the far corner of the room where Molly (the cousin) was sitting, reading a book, as this would be the last place Scorpius would sit and there would be less temptation to look in his direction every other minute, but my mother captured my attention immediately when she asked us both, "What were you doing? We couldn't find you anywhere."

"Errm..." I looked to Scorpius for help as other members of my family caught on to the scene around them and decided to listen too. Apparently they had all been looking for us... just some tried harder than the others. "We were just talking a—about..."

There was more silence as I couldn't finish my sentence. Trying to come up with something to fit into a sentence when under pressure like that _and _trying to seem casual was beyond what my brain could function at the time. That was probably why Scorpius and I both jumped at the chance to provide an answer, unfortunately meaning that we lied with different answers, at the same time.

"Quidditch."

"Homework."

My mother raised her eyebrows at me whilst I pointedly avoided Victoire's stares from my right. Luckily, Scorpius saved the situation from awkward questions.

"It was homework _about _Quidditch, Mrs H," he smiled warmly and casually at my mother and took a seat between Al and Lily on the floor around the coffee table. I had to admit, he was pretty convincing. I sat opposite him, in practically the only free space on the floor, glad that his answer seemed to satisfy my mother and the others in the room, and realised that there was a chess board in front of me.

"Hey, dad," I called to my father, who was laughing at some joke that Angelina, Uncle George's wife, had said. "Want to play some chess?"

His eyes lit up at the mention of chess but then my mum called his name and he looked at me apologetically. "I'll play you later, Rosie, yeah?"

"Alright dad," I smiled back at him as he was called again by Fred and James, who were obviously plotting evilly, in one of the corners.

Suddenly, my Nana Molly straightened and started to look excited.

"Shh, everybody, be quiet now. They're playing Celestina Warbeck!" She looked so excited that none of us even considered explaining that we really didn't want to listen to her old fashioned music.

Grandma knew the words to the song so she sang along whist Aunt Fleur, Uncle Percy and Granddad Weasley (who had been hiding away in the garden in the hope that he wouldn't have to listen to Celestina) went to make hot chocolate for us all.

About half way through the song, when Celestina was singing her loudest and my family were their quietest, Scorpius leaned across the table (I saw Alice's face snap up to watch what was going on between us) and asked me, "I'll play you at chess, Rosie."

I smirked at him. "I'll beat you," I warned.

"I'm undefeated."

"There's always a first for everything, Scor."

And so we set up the game, with most of our relatives watching, and played. He was good. I could tell that he calculated every move carefully; making sure that he only lost the pawns he could afford to lose, or simply sacrificing one of his rooks to save his queen.

"You know, Rose, you might have finally found your match at chess," Victoire commented as I struggled to find a way out of the mess I'd placed myself into on the chess board.

Biting on my bottom lip I told her, "Don't worry, Tory, I'll win."

Scorpius laughed softly, pulling his gaze from my lips, "Oh, really?"

"Really," I breathed back as I finally found a way around his defences. I can't believe I'd missed it before, although I could probably guess accurately the reason why I was distracted. "Checkmate."

He was silent for a minute and then, forcing his eyes away from the board, he looked up at me. "Ah, well, congratulations. I guess you really are the master at chess."

"I know," I smirked back at him.

"I just feel sorry for whoever you choose to spend the rest of your life with, Rosie." Victoire commented and I was hurt for a moment at such a random comment, until I realised what she meant.

"Because they'll have to live with my amazing chess skills?"

"Exactly," she laughed. "I mean, look at me. In a couple of days I'll be Victoire Lupin and I'll have to live with this mess for the rest of my life."

She playfully nudged Teddy with the side of her elbow. He pretended to double over in pain, and when he straightened up again his hair and eyes were Weasley red.

I couldn't help but laugh at him, along with Scorpius, Lucy (who had been keeping a close eye on Scorpius ever since he boarded the Hogwarts Express), Al, Alice, Hugo, Victoire and Lily.

"But, hey, you _have _to deal with it, Tory. That's what you get for falling in love," Alice reminded her.

"It simple affection, it'll pass," I joked. Everybody knew that Victoire and Teddy had loved each other since they met, even though that type of love had changed over the years.

"You don't see them as the same thing, Rose?" Lily asked me.

"Of course not," I reassured them.

"There's no such thing as love without affection, or affection without love," Lucy told us all.

"Of course there's love without affection and whatnot," I argued whilst tidying the chess board.

"You can still love somebody even if they drive you to total insanity every once in a while," Scorpius agreed with me and his fingers grazed mine as our hands passed over each other.

I caught his eye and it felt as if we were the only two people in the room for a long while.

"And I wouldn't call that insanity affection," I pointed out.

"Nope," he agreed again as our gaze broke.

"Well, that's a fair point," Victoire said as Lucy and Lily nodded and then continued the conversation amongst themselves.

The other adults came back, levitating more floating hot chocolates than I'd seen in my life and handed us all one.

"Hey," I asked them all as the Celestina Warbeck songs finally finished on the radio. "Where's Angie?"

Everybody took one look either side of themselves, noticed Angie wasn't the person sitting there (that girl makes sure to make an impression) and responded with the negative.

"I better go look for her," I announced as I stood up.

"I'll help you," Scorpius said, standing up also. He shot me a look that meant that he probably wouldn't be very focused on the task at hand but really wanted to be alone with me.

Alice, thankfully being the only other person who spotted this, stood up also. "Me too, I think she said she wasn't feeling well. I'm going to bed now, anyway, so I'll check too."

We all said our goodnights to the others and headed back up the stairs. As soon as we got to the door to the girls' room, Alice finally said what she'd wanted to say since finding us earlier.

"You're such idiots," she smiled and then walked into our room, shutting the door behind us and calling, "Hurry up, Rose," to me.

I turned to face Scorpius again. He kissed me once lightly, gently and slowly, and then pulled away, keeping his arms wrapped around my waist. I leaned into him, smelling his scent and revelling in the calmness that his presence brought to me.

"We're seriously messed up, aren't we?" I mumbled into his chest.

I felt it vibrate up and down a few times as he laughed quietly. "A bit, I'll admit."

"So what do we do now, then?"

He was silent for a minute. "I don't think we have to decide that now, do we? I mean, people have holiday romances all the time, right?"

"Right," I agreed, smiling. "It'll just be one of those short term things over the holidays and when we get back to school it'll end and we'll just... just go back to normal. To friends."

"Best friends," he corrected me.

"Best friends," I agreed.

A minute in silence passed and, eventually, the moment had to end. Scorpius pulled away from me and looked at my face, brushing my hair out of my eyes and back behind my ears again.

"So, I...err, I guess I'll see you... see you tomorrow, then?" He asked the question so hopefully that I was confused for a moment. "Or... or not?"

I beamed at him. "Or course you'll see me tomorrow."

I knew that he had another meaning in that sentence but I answered it as if I hadn't heard the meaning, even though he understood that I had.

Hesitating slightly this time, Scorpius brought his lips to mine again for a short kiss, but I didn't want it to end quite so quickly so, tugging the front of his shirt, I pulled him back to me for a longer, more intimate, kiss.

"I admit it was longer than three minutes, but seriously?" Alice's voice came from the doorway behind me. "Didn't Angie warn you, Rose, that your emotions would soon get the better of you and you'd eventually jump some poor unsuspecting guy?"

"I did," Angie's disembodied voice called from within the depths of our room.

"I hadn't finished saying goodnight," I mumbled irritably as I took a step backwards so that I stood with Alice, who had turned to comment back to Angie, in the doorway to our room.

Still holding onto Scorpius' fingers with my own, I looked at him and muttered softy, "Goodnight, Scor."

He smiled sweetly, a change from his normal smirk, and quietly replied with a, "Goodnight, best friend."

As he turned and walked up the next set of stairs to his own room I let out a loud laugh at this, and saw him turn and smirk at me once more before disappearing up the next set of stairs.

"What's so funny?" I heard a voice call from within the darkness of our room.

"There you are, Angie!" I replied, finally focusing on the whereabouts of my best friend.

"I've got a headache," she informed me. "And I don't think I can stand Mrs Warbeck with it."

I laughed again as Alice closed the door behind her.

"It's not _that _bad," I argued for Nana Molly's sake, collapsing onto my bed in between Angie's and Alice's.

Angie smiled at that instead of commenting, and then her eyes focused properly on me and she declared accusingly, "You've been snogging somebody."

I started to choke just as Alice started to laugh hysterically.

Aunt Audrey called up the stairs to us to make sure everything was okay. I opened the door to tell her that we were fine and then made sure it was properly shut and performed a '_Muffliato_' spell on it before sitting back down on my bed and turning to Angie.

"No I haven't," I avoided looking directly into her eyes and tried to preoccupy myself by changing into my pyjamas.

Her face broke out into a huge grin as she registered that I was lying in a space of a few seconds.

She started jumping up and down on her bed like she'd inhaled too much sugar. "You _have!_"

"No," I said firmly.

"You _have_!" When I didn't agree she turned to Alice for help. "She has, hasn't she?"

"Yeah," Alice managed to say through her laughter.

"Alice!" I complained loudly, glad that I'd put a '_Muffliato_' spell on the room.

"I'm sorry," she said, sounding like she really couldn't care in the slightest.

"So which guy did Rose finally jump?" Angie asked offhandedly.

My head snapped around so fast to face Alice that I heard it crack. I glared at Alice and she got the message easily – _don't you dare tell her_.

Angie laughed. "What? It's a secret?" Neither of us answered, Alice simply filled up an empty glass on the dressing table with water and took a sip for something to do. "Is it Al?" Angie joked.

Alice spat out her drink as I laughed. "Would I be _alive_ if it was?" I pointed out to Angie and Alice recovered and joined me on my bed. "And, secondly, eww. That is gross, he's my cousin."

"Well..." I could see the cogs in Angie's brain working hard. "They're all your cousins..." she was getting closer to the answer now and I desperately didn't want her to know.

"You know... we should probably get to bed... it's getting late," I tried to re-focus Angie's thoughts.

"Good plan," Alice caught on immediately. I didn't want anybody else to know about this _thing_ between Scorpius and me, especially if it was goign to end in a week or two.

We each climbed into bed and I turned down the light so that they were almost off, but not quite (Alice was afraid of the dark).

After a few moments of calm silence, in which I thought I had almost drifted off to sleep, Angie asked us in a whisper, "Did I miss anything at the 'Celestina Convention'?"

"Nope," Alice whispered back and I felt my eyes close and her voice go in and out of focus. "Just Rose thrashing Scor at chess."

"Oh, right..." Angie replied quietly. I thought, for a minute, that she was going to sit up and accuse me of the truth, but she didn't.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief, I turned over onto my stomach and found that it took next to no effort at all to fall asleep.

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed it enough to read a review? I'm thinking you lovely people can get to 100 in the next few chapters! Amazing! :D Thank you all for readingreviewing.**


	13. Truth or Dare?

**I hope you all liked the previous chapter. This on is full of complete fluff but I really felt like writing one like that and this just sort of came to me.**

** I hope you enjoy this. There's going to be another two chapters I think before the return to Hogwarts.  
><strong>

** I hope you don't mind that. A change of scenery is always good for a time and Hogwarts will definitely be back. **

"And you could have at least _pretended _to help me sort out the wedding presents," Alice was complaining in a hushed voice as we walked past Fred, Louis and Dom and made our way across the freezing yard to the washing line.

Depositing the empty basket onto the snow-covered floor and pulling my coat tighter around my face to keep the chill out, I reached up and started to take down the clothes from the line. "And you could at least _pretend_ to help me with this, you know," I retorted irritably.

"At least I'm not blowing you off to snog my boyfriend," Alice reminded me, pulling off random items of clothing from the line above our heads and folding them neatly into the basket at our feet.

I wouldn't say that we were _arguing_, more disagreeing.

And we'd had the same disagreement practically every time we were alone together. No matter what Alice said, I _hadn't_ just left her to snog Scorpius. I'd actually left the room to ask Victoire where she wanted all her excess wedding presents stored, and Scorpius had caught me on the way to the kitchen. Needless to say, I was a little preoccupied for a quarter of an and hour, until I remembered Alice.

_Well, if I was going to have a little short-term romance, I was going to make the most of it._

"He's not my boyfriend," I reminded her through clenched teeth.

Alice gave a short, sarcastic laugh. "_Sure_ he isn't, Rosie."

Sighing heavily I placed the last of the clothing into the basket and levitated it through the air with my wand. It was just too icy and slippery on the floor for carrying the basket to be safe. "Alice," I complained to her. "You know there's not really anything there. We're just... messing around."

"I don't know, Rose," she disagreed as we neared the house. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not going to get hurt, Alice," I told her patronisingly.

Unfortunately for me, this always happens to be the time that I trip. Well, this time I slipped on the ice, focusing too much on my conversation and floating laundry than my footing, and went flying forwards, landing flat on my face across the garden. I hit my head pretty hard on the ice and felt a sharp pain throb for a minute, until it subsided and only existed mildly. I could handle that pain, it wasn't too bad.

Luckily Alice had the sense to control the laundry with a flick of her wand so that it remained in the basket and upright. _It was nice of her to save the laundry and not her best friend._

"Well..." Alice laughed. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Turning onto my side I shot her a glare to tell her exactly what I was thinking as the back door opened and my dad, Victoire, Teddy and Uncle Percy came running out to see what the problem was.

"Rose! Are you alright?"

"Don't move, I'll help you up."

"What happened exactly?"

I held up my hands to show that I was fine and hauled myself up onto my knees. Immediately, the world started to spin in my mind and I clasped both hands to my head to hold it up.

"What's going on?" I heard Al ask as he appeared on the scene, as usual, a few seconds later than everybody else.

"Rose fell over," Hugo commented, sounding unfazed by the situation around him and completely at ease.

"She hit her head pretty hard," Alice commented.

"Okay, let's get her inside," I heard my dad say from behind me and somebody clasped both my wrists with their hands and pulled me slowly to my feet.

I started walking slowly to the back door, my feet were numb and my legs shaky from the fall. The others got bored of the situation and wandered off, mostly to find a radiator or their wands to perform self-heating charms. My dad kept one hand securely under my elbow and guided me patiently to the living room, Teddy and Victoire following closely behind.

"There, there, Rosie," dad said as I sat down on one of the sofas, already feeling much better. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah," I beamed up at him. "I'll be fine, dad. You know me, I'm always falling over."

All three of them laughed.

"How about a drink of hot chocolate to warm you up?" Teddy asked big-brotherly.

"That'll be great," I agreed enthusiastically. I'd get it myself but I didn't think my legs would take a walk to the kitchen. "Thanks, Teddy."

"No problem, Ro-Ro," he grinned at me, knowing that I hated that nickname, and left in the direction of the kitchen.

I shivered as the door closed shut behind Teddy.

"You're clothes are wet," dad said accusingly. _I couldn't help it. I fell on ice and snow._

_ "_I'll get you some dry ones from your room, Rose," Victoire smiled at me and left. This was probably an excuse for her to dress me up how she wanted. I much preferred her getting my clothes than my father, he had next to no sense of... well, just decent dressing. I wasn't worried about looking fashionable; it was simply that he couldn't find anything that would look even the slightest bit good on me. He'd probably come back with two t-shirts and a tie.

Actually, now I thought about it, my clothes were soaked through and I was colder than I first realised.

Dad saw me shivering and crinkled his freckled nose. "I'll get you a warm towel from the cupboard," he fussed over me and left through the opposite door to Teddy. Honestly, if I could just find my wand I'd be warm in a second.

As he passed through the doorway I heard somebody say something to him and then Scorpius waltzed into the room, looking as arrogant as usual.

As soon as the door swung shut and we were alone his face changed from looking overly-proud to concern and he sat beside me on the sofa, handing me a warm, damp flannel to place on my forehead.

"Thanks," I said and leaned my head back so that the flannel wouldn't slip off. I couldn't see his face, only the cream ceiling patterns covered my vision.

"Must you always be the one to fall over?" He sighed.

"Apparently so,"

After a moment of silence he suggested, "Maybe you should be in a rubber ball,"

"Like a hamster?" I asked, confused.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Exactly like a hamster ball."

"Gee, thanks, Scor," I rolled my eyes at him. "You're so annoying."

"Hey!" He protested. "It's Christmas, and I thought we agreed on a substitute for fighting these past few days?"

"Firstly, it's only Christmas Eve, so I can call you what I want," I reminded him. "And, secondly, we did no such thing."

"Okay, well I propose that we try not to fight at all tomorrow. We should be polite to each other, at least for the one day."

"And why would we do that?" I asked exasperatedly, taking the flannel from my forehead and shifting my position slightly so that he could place his arm round my shoulders and we were facing.

"You know, for the spirit of Christmas..." He tried to persuade me.

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him. "Since when were you the nice one and me the evil one?"

He smirked at that. "What are you talking about; I've _always_ been the nice one."

"Ha ha," I laughed sarcastically. "I don't think so."

"You're right," he grinned, leaning in close to my face. "I'm the devil."

"You're at the wrong event then, 'cause we're celebrating Christmas, not Halloween," I whispered, moving closer to him.

"Who says it's a costume," he breathed. And then his lips crashed down on mine and my body was pulled roughly towards him. This kiss was different to the others we'd shared his holiday, it was rougher, more insistent and I couldn't remember much of my common sense. Because of this I folded my legs underneath me and sat further forwards on my knees, pressing my body against Scorpius' and wedging him against the armrest of the sofa.

His hands didn't go to my hair, like normal. They found their way to my lower back, stroking the exposed skin from underneath my shirt and mine clasped around the back of his neck, trapping him where he was.

_It wasn't as if he was complaining._

After a while I started to trail short kisses up to his ear again and back down his neck. He seemed to want to say something for a moment, but then his lips caught mine again, this time gentler, but still full of passion and electricity, and the thought left my mind as quickly as it had come.

One of the doors was forced open with a particularly loud bang and I heard Teddy mumbling under his breath for a moment. I jumped back from Scorpius, desperately trying to tame my hair and wipe off the lipstick smudges over my face.

Teddy froze in the door way and stared at us both for a long minute. It felt like forever had passed by the time he took another slow step into the room, placed my hot chocolate onto the table between the two sofas and sat down opposite us.

He let out a low whistle. "Ron's going to kill you."

I guessed he meant me at first, but then I realised that Scorpius wouldn't get let off lightly either, especially if we were caught snogging like that by one of the adults.

"It's not like that," I mumbled, looking at the floor.

Teddy laughed, "Don't worry about it. I won't tell anybody, I promise."

"Thanks, Ted," Both Scorpius and I mumbled back to him.

Teddy got up from the sofa and mad it all the way to the door before turning back to us and asking, "Let me guess... you agreed it was just a holiday thing, right?"

We both nodded. He laughed ecstatically as the door swung shut behind him.

* * *

><p>That evening I entered the living room to find it full. My cousins had their duvets and pillows spread out all over the floor, playing board games and eating popcorn and cookies, whilst the parents lounged on the armchairs and sofas chatting excitedly and reminiscing about 'old times'.<p>

I automatically spotted Scorpius talking enthusiastically to James, Fred and Louis about some legendary Quidditch Match, but I made no move to approach them.

As soon as I had taken three steps into the room Scorpius looked up and shot a wide grin in my direction when the others weren't looking. Even though this... _relationship _didn't mean anything, I still blushed.

Grabbing my wand from a small table stacked high with books I made to join Lily and Al, who were playing a game of Monopoly, but Uncle Bill reached out and took my arm as I walked past.

"Rosie," he smiled at me and the skin around his eyes crinkled. "Could you grab me a bottle of Mead from the kitchen?"

"Of course, Uncle Bill," I smiled back at him happily. I've been so much happier these past few days.

_Probably because of a certain blonde-haired guy, Rosie..._ That annoying voice was back again.

As I headed out the door and into the kitchen I caught Scorpius' eye and smiled to myself. It only took a second to grab the Mead for Uncle Bill. However, distractions always appear when you don't need them.

The kitchen door swung shut behind Scorpius and he quickly flicked his wand towards the doorway, performing a '_Muffliato'_, whilst I placed the Mead securely on the table so that I couldn't knock it over with my clumsy hands.

"Hey," he said casually into the silence.

We stood with a five metre gap between us. Usually the snogging just happened, such as when I was walking past the bathroom yesterday evening and he had simply pulled me through the doorway and started kissing me straight away.

"Merry Christmas Eve," he whispered.

"You too," I smiled at him.

His face changed to concern as he brushed back a long strand of my hair to reveal a large bruise over the left side of my forehead. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," I mumbled as he rested his hand on my forehead. I breathed deeply, closing my eyes, and smelled my favourite smells in the world; Parchment, Nana Molly's famous Christmas pudding and another scent that I related to Scorpius, but which couldn't possibly be his cologne as it had been on him that one day at tryouts earlier in the year when he'd been soaking wet.

"Not dizzy? Faint? Weak?"

"No," I looked up at him. "I'm... perfect."

He grinned at me. "What a coincidence, me too."

I laughed and my hand reached out to grab the Mead on the table for Uncle Bill as Scorpius kissed me lightly once on the cheek and once softly on my bruise before returning to the living room.

"Here you are, Uncle Bill," I handed him the bottle before taking a seat around Roxanne, Lucy, Lily, Hugo and Scorpius.

"Did you have trouble finding it?" He asked, genuinely confused. He knew he'd left it out on the table and couldn't work out what had taken me so long.

"Somebody must have put it away but Scorpius found it for me," I replied casually, reaching for a handful of popcorn across my brother.

"Hey, Rosie!" James called across the room to me.

"Yeah?" I asked, confused. "What?"

"Come here a sec..."

Aunt Ginny spared a glance in his direction, probably making sure nobody was hurt or looking guilty, before turning back to talk to Uncle Harry and Granddad Weasley.

"Why?" I made the word take a few seconds to pronounce and raised my eyebrows at him.

"Just... just come," Al appeared behind his brother.

My curiosity spiked and I hauled myself up off the sofa and over to the partially deserted side of the room where Al and James were... plotting.

Literally. They _were_ plotting. Pieces of paper decorated the small table, looking much too much like detailed drawings of Diagon Alley for my liking.

James and Al sat at the only chairs around the table. Casually, I shoved James over so that he fell backwards off the stool and landed on the floor. Taking the recently vacated seat I turned to Al as James complained loudly to me and stood up.

"What do you two want now?" I sighed.

"Well, we've been thinking for days now—" Al started.

"_I've_ been thinking," James interjected, sending Al a glare. "Al's been snogging his girlfriend."

"Alice?" I asked suddenly.

"Nah," Al replied sarcastically. "Victoire and I are planning to run away together. _Of course he meant Alice_."

"But... but I've been with her all the time since we got back," I informed them. _When had Alice had time to disappear with Al?_

"She said that you kept disappearing to speak to Teddy," Al looked confused too.

"Err," I didn't know what to say to that. "Okay, yeah, sure."

"Right, anyway," James interrupted thankfully before Al could pick up on my mystified tone. "_We've _been thinking for days now and we still don't have any idea what to get Teddy and Victoire for their wedding."

James glared at me as if this statement was supposed to create a thrilling effect. I simply looked back at him with an expressionless face. "So?"

"So we need your help!" Al enlightened me.

"Look, a present is only special if you've thought long and hard about it and it means something," I told them.

"We should get them a gravy boat," James told Al suddenly, as if he'd had a stroke of inspiration.

_Something told me that they weren't listening._

"Look, you guys, I'm feeling as if I should maybe give you an example. Just so that you _really_ understand what I'm talking about..."

"Okay, good plan," Al turned back to me, giving me a look that meant he really didn't want to present Tory and Ted with a _gravy boat_ at their wedding. Hey, it wasn't a _terrible_ present.

"Okay, so I'm getting Alice—"

"Girl presents are really confusing," Al interrupted me.

"Well, I'm a girl, Al," I reminded him. "If you don't understand girl presents then I can't give you an example."

"What did you get Scorpius?" James asked.

Al slapped himself on the forehead and buried his head in his hands. "I can't believe I forgot to get Scor a Christmas Present!"

"Al!" I reprimanded him, slapping him over the back of the head. "He's your best friend, you Pygmy Puff!"

"I know!" He moaned into his hands. "He's gonna kill me."

I sighed, knowing that what I was going to say was so like me and _so _annoying. _Sometimes I really hated my generosity. _"Look, Al, I suppose it's more important that you get him a present. You can have my gift to him."

Al looked up at me. "Really, Rosie? I'd feel bad."

"Well, you're closer to him—" _That was such a lie._ "—and he's your best friend so you can give it to him."

"Thanks Rose!" My favourite cousin smiled and hugged me. "So what did you get him?"

"Okay," I blushed because I'd really put a lot of thought into this present. "It's a shirt."

"A shirt!" Al complained. "Rosie! That's so boring."

"Hey, it's not just _a _shirt, it's a special shirt."

"Okay..." Al looked a little confused."

"You'll have to wait and find out what's so special about it tomorrow, Al." I could tell that I was annoying him. "Do you want the present or not?"

"Yes please," he mumbled.

"And can I go now?"

"Yes..." he mumbled again.

"Hello!" James grumbled. "I've still got problems."

"I know _that_," I muttered under my breath. Al high-fived me and James slapped me on the arm at the same time.

"Seriously, what am I going to do about Tory and Ted?"

"Make them a present, Jay," I smiled at him. "Now I'm going to talk to people I actually like, goodbye."

And I turned on my heels and walked back across the room to where I was sitting before, between Uncle George and Lily.

"And _that's _why I only have one ear, Lils," Uncle George sighed to her and turned to me as I sat down. "Rose, explain to Lily, please."

I sighed. "Does she still not understand?"

"Of course I do," she snapped at me. "But it just doesn't make sense that Snape would purposefully _miss_ and only hit your ear..."

"That's because he was _a good guy_, Lils," I told her firmly for probably the hundredth time.

"Okay, now I—"

"Hey, it's Uncle Charlie!" Louis shouted from the window and everybody dragged themselves up from their seats to the window as a figure walked through the rapidly increasing swirling snow and to the front door.

A few moments later the door to the living room opened, complete with a burst of fresh, freezing air, and in came Uncle Charlie.

"Merry Christmas all!" He exclaimed happily and immediately went to pick up Al, like he did every year, flinging him over him shoulder.

I don't know why, but every single time those two met Al would be hauled onto Uncle Charlie's shoulder and paraded around the room until he begged for mercy.

"Help me, Rosie," Al managed to breathe to me as they passed. Making a decision to help _this_ Christmas (I hadn't done so for the last four); I sat up onto my heels and reached to grab Al's foot. His leg jolted backwards as Charlie tried to continue walking forwards and both of them fell onto the floor.

Laughing so contagiously was one of the best things about Uncle Charlie (why that man hadn't married, I did not know) and soon everybody was laughing as Al and him sat in a pile on the floor.

Charlie came to his senses first and composed himself. "Albus, if you get off your bum I can give everybody else their Christmas presents."

Quick as lightning, Al scrabbled up and over to where Alice was sitting. She opened her arms so that he could lie down beside her and rest his head on her chest.

"And who is this _beautiful _young lady that I have not had the pleasure of meeting?" Charlie asked as he got to his feet and rummaged around in his pockets for his wand.

"Uncle Charlie this is Alice, one of my friends," I informed him, sitting back down comfortably on Uncle George. "She's also Al's girlfriend."

Charlie started to chuckle but didn't comment. "Aha," he waved his wand once and flicked it in the general direction of the Christmas tree. "They're not very good, you guys, but there are just so flippin' many of you that I've had to start budgeting."

Then my much-loved uncle took a seat beside his mother, who started to fuss about his hair and the recent scars he'd acquired, and I turned my attention back to Lily, only to find that she'd disappeared and there was an empty space were she'd previously been.

Before I could even ask where she'd gone, Alice called me from the doorway. _I'd thought she was sitting on the floor too?_

"Come on, Rosie, we're going to play Truth or Dare," she called enthusiastically to me.

I followed Alice and the others half-heartedly: I didn't want to be stuck in a room with the adults to talk to all night but I _really_ didn't want to play 'Truth or Dare'... mostly because of the 'Truth' part. Right now, that just didn't reach the top of my to-do list.

But I joined the other teenagers in sitting in a circle on the floor of Al and Scorpius' room. It was the largest bedroom in the house (probably given to Al because Nana Molly _loved_ him), previously housing a ghoul (only don't tell Al that because he'd probably freak out and demand to sleep in the living room).

It was a mess too. I'd never seen a room so untidy in all my life. Honestly, how they found _anything_ on the floor and under all the rubbish and possessions flying about the place, I didn't know. And, even more confusing for me, how did they both look so fresh and tidy in the morning when it seemed as if they'd just thrown on the first shirt and trousers they could find, judging by the state of their room.

I was pulled out of my strange thoughts by Angie as she tapped me lightly on the shoulder. "Hey, Rose, you alright? You look a little distracted."

"Oh," I startled for a second. "I'm fine, thanks Ang. Just thinking."

"How's your head?"

Now that she mentioned it and I focussed on that part of my body I realised how painful it was, "It hurts a little."

Scorpius looked up at this from a few metres away but didn't join our conversation. As Angie sat down on my right and I reached left across Dom, who was sitting between me and Scorpius, to grab a pair of Al's jeans and throw them onto his bed behind me, Scorpius muttered under his breath quietly so that even Dom, who was in conversation with Angie, didn't hear. "You told me it didn't hurt."

I made an _'It's no big deal'_ face at him and turned back to the others.

"Okay, so the idea is that we each have a number between one and fourteen and take it in turns to role the dice. Whoever's number comes up is challenged to a 'Truth' or 'Dare'."

"Erm, Al..." Lily piped up. "Dice only have six sides. So the maximum number we can get is twelve, not fourteen."

"Not if you have two eight-sided dice ranging from nought to seven," Al replied smugly and rolled them into the middle of the circle. "I'm number one and we'll go clockwise with numbers and dice-throwing. Molly, you're eleven, you can go first."

Molly, sitting on Scorpius' left, reached forwards and grabbed the dice before rolling them quickly. They stopped slowly in the centre of the circle making a total of nine.

That meant Dom.

She sighed. "Truth or Dare, Dom?" Molly asked her, handing the dice to Fred, on her left, so that he was ready to throw.

She grinned. "Dare."

"I dare you..." Molly thought for a moment, "to dye Uncle Ron's hair blue."

"No way!" Dom exclaimed, smiling. But she still got up off the floor, made her way to the door and disappeared for a few moments. We couldn't use magic when home for Christmas until we were seventeen and, unfortunately, most of us weren't, including Dom. I guessed she'd swap dads shampoo with blue hair dye from Uncle George's not-so-secret secret stash of Weasleys Wizard Wheezes supplies under the stairs. When she reappeared she grinned at us all. "Easy as pie."

"My go!" Fred seemed eager to play and completely ignored Dom's glares as she proudly took her seat in the circle again. "Six... that's you, James."

"Yes!" He punched the air a little too enthusiastically. "Dare."

"Okay, err... I dare you to wear Lucy's headband and lipstick throughout the entire game," Fred smirked.

"That's easy!" he grinned and was soon appropriately dressed, much to the amusement of the rest of us.

The game continued like that for a while, revealing some interesting things about my cousins that I hadn't known before. _That was why I liked this game – It really brought us closer and taught us not to take ourselves too seriously._

I learned that Dom thought that Aunt Audrey really could do with a make-over; Louis wanted to become a professional code-breaker when he was older (just like his father); Alice hated it when Al snored loudly because we could hear it in the room below, and Roxanne had been secretly dating a guy named Ben for three months until they broke up at the end of last year.

Naturally, when it came to Hugo's turn to roll the dice it totalled to eight – my number.

"Truth or Dare, Rosie?" Hugo asked, smirking like only a little brother about to put his big sister into trouble could do.

On the one hand, I could go for a dare and get it over with quickly, besides, it wouldn't be hard – Hugo didn't have that good an imagination when it came to things like this – yet I really _hated_ making a fool of myself in public, I did it enough already, including slipping over earlier. On the other hand, if I chose 'Truth' there was a small chance that Hugo would ask me a question that could reveal the growing relationship between Scorpius and I, yet what _really_ were the chances of that?

I sighed dramatically, "Truth."

An even more dramatic 'ooh' went around the circle from my family and friends. "Getting personal information out of Rose Weasley?" James asked theatrically. "Never! Hey, Hugh, ask her something _really _personal."

"Shut up," I mumbled, blushing, and threw a trainer from under Al's bed at his face. _I wasn't good with emotional things in front of my family._ James managed to avoid it as Hugo asked me his question of choice. "How many guys have you kissed?"

_Dumbledore's beard! I really hated that boy sometimes. I mean, seriously, who actually took advice from James? Only an idiot. Unfortunately, today's idiot was Hugo._

I had to count quickly in my head. I knew that Molly, Lucy, James, Hugo and a few of the others probably thought I hadn't kissed anybody. Well, I knew I acted all '_academics are important' _a lot of the time but... well; I literally did _live_ at school, so I couldn't help it. And also, possibly the worst thing about this ridiculous question, Angie knew when I had a boyfriend... she'd know as soon as I said the number that I was lying about something to her.

They were all looking at me expectantly. "This is such a ridiculous question," I huffed, folding my arms. "But if you really want to know, it's four."

"Four?" I heard Lucy scoff.

"Hey, it's four more than I thought," Molly giggled back.

"You know what?" I told her firmly. "It's_ three_ more than you've kissed, Molly."

And I know that for a fact because Molly had only ever had one boyfriend, for quite a long time, and she'd told me that he'd been the first guy she kissed.

Hey, we Weasley girls were strange. Either we were Ginny Weasley's, getting all the guys and being (like Lily) quite flirty with everyone in school, or we were Hermione Granger's, quietly achieving what we wanted in our careers and every other aspect of life and if we found somebody around school that we liked... that was an additional benefit.

"Actually, it's one more than I thought..." Angie said a little too loudly. Everybody knew we were close and that I told her everything but telling her this, especially in front of my family, was a bit too much. I hadn't even wanted Alice to know. And anyway, it wasn't anything special, Scor and I would be back to friends in no time.

Unfortunately, I chose this moment to look at Scorpius, who was staring back at me. I coughed to let him know that staring like that was not natural and he quickly snapped out of his daydream.

"Can we just carry on, please?" I asked irritably.

"Yeah," Scorpius shuffled uncomfortably. "It's Lucy's turn."

"Oh, yay," Lucy looked happy that it was, indeed, her turn to roll the dice and everybody quickly forgot my truth or dare. Or, at least, they didn't mention it.

In the next few rolls I learned that Al had cheated on a total of three exams whilst being at Hogwarts (personally I thought it had been more than that), James had been seeing three girls at the same time until he realised that he couldn't buy them all Christmas presents and broke up with them, Lucy hadn't been anywhere remotely _near_ a guy in a relationship kind of way since the beginning of the year (I couldn't help but feel smug at that) and that Fred still slept with his childhood toy Bubbles under his pillow.

Angie rolled the dice for her go and it landed on Scorpius. "Truth or Dare?"

Nobody had chosen a dare for a long time so I was actually surprised when he decided to go for it. I'd actually forgotten that we were playing 'Truth _and Dare_'.

Typically, Angie dared Scorpius possibly the worst thing that I could think of. "I dare you go round the circle and kiss every girl once on the lips."

He raised his eyebrows at her, leaning back on his elbows. "Seriously?"

She nodded, "Seriously. You don't have to snog them or anything," she laughed. "Just one friendly peck on the lips and your free to stick your tongue down whoever's throat you like after that."

Scorpius winked discreetly in my direction and tried my hardest to stop my face from going red. Thankfully, James spoke up, directing attention to him.

"Why dare _that_?" James asked, apparently puzzled.

Angie's answer couldn't have been more right. "'Cause every girl in school has been _dying_ to kiss Scorpius all year and I just couldn't resist," she chuckled. "And I'm not allowed to just say 'me', it has to be everybody or directly somebody else."

"I'll second that dare," Dom replied enthusiastically and they high-fived behind my back.

So casually that, if I hadn't known him so well, I would have thought that Scorpius wasn't even fazed by this dare, he pushed up his sleeves (a habit he'd gotten into this evening) and stood up.

"You're so weird Angie," he laughed, before turning to Molly, on his left, and kissed her quickly on the lips.

The sight made my stomach lurch a little, but then I realised that Scorpius' hands were firmly behind his back and he pulled back from her as soon as their lips touched.

Molly pouted slightly as he moved away from her, pretending to go to kiss Fred for a joke before bowing to Alice, nodding to Al, and moving past the happy couple. Lily opened her arms up and raised her eyebrows at him flirtingly in a way that reminded me of her mother before joking puckering up to kiss him. When they did kiss briefly she laughed and they smiled at each other, the whole thing looking like friends as they parted from each other. I knew Lily well, she found Scorpius hot like everybody else, but didn't like him like that. If I had my facts right, she was after a certain Sixth Year Hufflepuff on their Quidditch Team.

"And people think I'm a flirt," he chuckled to her as Lucy sat up straighter and he moved to stand in front of her. Seriously, that girl knew that a good way to annoy me would be by kissing my best friend. Of course it was only cousinly love, but sometimes she really got on my nerves.

It was evident by Lucy's face that Scorpius had either _not _kissed her or had simply opted for kissing her cheek but, from where I was sitting, I had no idea. Her face was so funny and so dramatically upset that I had to physically stop myself from laughing.

James took it into his own hands to plaster Lucy's lipstick marks on Scorpius' cheek as he passed, causing the rest of us to burst into hysterics.

When Scorpius reached Angie she grinned, turned her head to the side and pointed to her cheek. He shook his head at her craziness and kissed her on the cheek.

"This is hard work, you know," he grinned back at her. "Why are there so many Weasley's?"

"Hey, you shouldn't be so damn good looking and you wouldn't have to do this, you know," I informed him as he stopped in front of me. _That was something I would normally say, right?_

There was a pause that only we noticed as he looked into my eyes and I both _wanted_ to look away, in case I did something silly (like wrapping my arms around him in a very not-best-friend way), but also didn't, because it was as if something was passing between us.

Placing both his hands on either side on my shoulders and leaning forwards, Scorpius gently pressed his lips to mine, lingering on a second longer than normal and pulled back, breathing softly, "So _damn _good-looking," to me.

He purposefully made the distance between us obvious before turning to Dom, opening his arms up and exclaiming light-heartedly, "Dominique!"

She smirked back at him. "I like the rebels Scorpius."

"Well, it's good that I'm not really a rebel, then," he chuckled and kissed her once efficiently and without emotion.

"Happy, Angie?" He questioned her jokingly.

"Of course," she grinned.

"And now can I _please_ roll the dice?" I sighed, smiling at the others. They nodded and I rolled. It landed on ten – Scorpius' number.

"You've got to be kidding me?" Scorpius mumbled, grinning.

"Well, well, Scorpius Malfoy, it looks as if you've drawn the short straw and had to go twice. Truth or Dare?" I asked, mockingly.

"Truth," he beamed at me. "I don't think I'd live through it if I had to kiss all the girls again."

I laughed, "Okay, who's the best kisser in this circle?"

Hey, if I had to answer an awkward question, then I was going to make him too_. Besides, I genuinely was curious._

He shot me his best smirk. "Hands down... it has to be James."

Everybody started to laugh at this until it became obvious that we weren't going to let Scorpius get away without an answer to his Truth when everybody else had had to answer theirs. "If I say _you_ will I get a good Christmas present?" He joked.

"Try it," I told him defiantly.

"Okay, you, then, Rose." The other teenagers in the circle laughed or started chatting quickly.

"Why, thanks, Scorpius," I grinned. "But your present still sucks."

He sighed, "I tried."

Teddy chose this moment to speak up, evidently being in the room for some time without being noticed. To be fair, I had my back to him so it would really have been Al, who was sitting across from me, who should have seen him first. "Man, I miss this game."

"You were welcome to take my place about ninety seconds ago," Scorpius chuckled.

"Well, Scorpius, as another non-official blood relative of the Weasley's, I've had that same dare myself. You better watch your back; one of them will catch your heart some day."

"What's this, Teddy Lupin saying something _nice_ about me?" Victoire asked playfully as she entered the room and melted into his arms.

"Well, I didn't know you were there," he said back.

She laughed. "You had to check on the teens, it's only right that somebody had to check on _you_."

"You can check on me anytime you like," he breathed back into her ear.

"Eww, gross, Ted," Lily laughed. "We don't want to know."

"Yeah, why don't you two go off and... occupy yourselves for a while, and we'll continue with our game," James finished.

"I don't think Scorpius can take any more kissing," Teddy laughed.

"Hey, I'm stronger than you think," Scorpius joked.

Looking pointedly at me, thankfully something nobody else noticed except Victoire and Scorpius, Teddy smirked, "I bet you are."

"Okay, time to sleep. Christmas tomorrow, yay..." I hurried to say, jumping to my feet and pulling Angie up with me.

"Good plan," Scorpius agreed quickly, helping Molly up, much to her surprise and pleasure.

We all filed out of the room, leaving Alice, Al, Scorpius, Angie and me, with Ted and Victoire in the corridor, laughing loudly and sounding as happy as only a loved-up couple could.

"Coming Alice?" Angie asked impatiently. It seemed she was getting over her _'illness' _(as she liked to call it, or sometimes it was her _'Celestina Syndrome'_) and returning to her usual self.

"Errm..." Alice hesitated.

"Give us a minute," Al blushed and Scorpius raised his eyebrows at Angie and me.

It was good to see Al blush about a girl. He had many of them chasing after him all the time and when he _really_ fell for them, you could tell. As far as I knew, Alice was the only girl that he'd ever fallen for like this.

I sighed, "Fine. Night, Al. I'll see you downstairs, Alice."

Angie and I turned to leave, hearing Al call out to Scorpius, "Why don't you walk them to their room, Scor?"

"Yeah, fine, whatever," Scorpius sounded tired, but amused. "I get you Al."

The boys grinned at each other as Angie, Alice and I shook our heads disapprovingly.

The three of us made our way slowly down the staircase to the door to our room and Angie immediately ran inside to get changed, suddenly excited about Christmas, leaving Scorpius and I alone for the first time since in the kitchen earlier.

"Well," I said into the silence, for the house suddenly seemed quieter. "That was an interesting game..."

"Yep," he agreed, lowering his voice to a whisper.

"I'm so going to kill Ted," I muttered under my breath.

"He was just being smug because he's getting married," Scorpius smiled.

"I know," I whispered back patiently.

Sighing, we both lapsed into a comfortable silence. "Well, I better get to bed."

"Right, good point," he agreed. "I better split up the Al's."

I grinned, "'Night Scorpius."

Turning away I placed one of my hands on my door before he whispered to me, "Merry Christmas, Rosie."

"Merry Christmas, Scor," I grinned, turning back to him again.

And he was right. I could hear the grandfather clock in the hallway two floors below chiming away as it turned to midnight, exactly the first minute of Christmas.

"Don't I get a kiss?" He smirked at me teasingly.

"You've already had one," I reminded him, wondering how many times he'd ask and how many times it would take for me to give in.

"Aww, come on, Rosie," he took a step forwards and stroked my cheek.

"I'm sorry," I pretended that I hadn't heard him. "Were you saying something?"

He kissed me anyway. If anybody was to come out into the landing at that moment, they'd get a bit of a shock from our situation. And also, if Angie was to come out of the bedroom door, I'd go flying backwards as that was the only thing supporting my body upright at that precise moment.

I sighed, knowing that the longer we kissed, the more likely it was that somebody would see us. And this would be a hard situation to talk my way out of. My arm just _happened_ to be over his shoulder and my hands just _happened_ to be tangled in his hair, would be my best excuse. And having a sixteen year old guy with his arms around your waist and snogging you against a door wasn't exactly the normal for me. Especially when said boy just _happened_ to be Scorpius Malfoy and you just _happened_ to be a hormonal teenager.

He placed both his hands on the door, either side of my face, kissed me one last time and took a step backwards, as if he needed to space to think.

"You alright?" I asked, concerned.

"I... I can't seem to think around you anymore, Rose," he looked extremely confused all of a sudden.

"Why?" I asked, and was surprised when my voice came out firm and harsh. It quickly softened to fit my current mood. "It's still me, Scor."

Copying his movement, I stepped forwards and placed my finger under his chin, forcing it up and his eyes to lock on mine.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"We're still the same people; we've just... expanded on reducing our boredom durations."

He laughed quietly. "Exactly. So, I'll see you later, then."

"Hey!" I called back quietly as he turned up the stairs to head back to his room. "You can be so annoying sometimes."

And, turning, I closed my bedroom door behind me.

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><p><strong>So I hope you enjoyed that chapter rather than thinking it strange. I had to try and get all the Weasley teenagers together for a bit because they're all interesting characters. What do you guys think of TeddyVictoire?  
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**Thanks to everybody who reviews because you're awesome and everybody who reads too.  
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**If you could, I'd love a review? We reached over 100! You guys are AMAZING! :D  
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	14. A Very Weasley Christmas

**So I think this is Chapter 14.**

**So sorry it took so long to get it up - I totally lost track of the days. But it's here now! If you review I might remember to update quicker? Not that you aren't all FABULOUS anyway! Over 100 reviews! :D  
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**This chapter is all about Weasley Christmas, if the title doesn't already tell you that. I hope you enjoy it. I was originally going to end it about 1,500 words before I did end it... I just really wanted to ad some extra stuff, such as James (you'll see what I mean soon).**

**Also I hope my Quidditch isn't terrible. **

**Now, think "Christmas" - snow, cosy fires, christmas cards, roast dinner, decorating the tree, unwrapping gifts, etc. Okay, _now_ you're ready for this chapter. Sorry it's so out of season!**

**I hope you like this chapter, I had fun writing it.**

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><p>Most people get woken up on Christmas morning by their younger brothers or sisters jumping on their bed in all the excitement. I <em>had<em> a younger brother, but it seemed that he'd decided to gather a whole bunch of red-headed teenagers (including some that weren't Weasley-red) and ordered them to bundle me as a way of waking me up.

Luckily for me I was already half-awake by the time I realised that the voices around me in the semi-darkness were plotting to give me a violent wakening.

Just as Hugo muttered "Three!" rather loudly and my cousins and best friends jumped onto my bed where I was supposedly sleeping, I rolled quickly onto the floor, misjudged the space and sent somebody's legs buckling underneath them so that they landed on top of me in the dark whilst my cousins lay in a untidy, loud mess on my bed, trying (still loudly) to untangle themselves.

"Couldn't keep your hands off me, could you?" Scorpius teased quietly as my cousins tried to extract their limbs from other peoples.

I opted for glaring at him, which I knew he could see even through this dull light, and allowed him to help me to my feet.

The others had managed to separate themselves and were standing ready to leave, eager to get downstairs and open their presents. Angie and Alice each took hold of one of my arms and dragged me with the others and down the stairs (rather noisily, I must say) to the living room.

The small table lamps were on along with the lights on the Christmas tree meaning that the room wasn't brightly lit but looked calm and peaceful.

Feeling suddenly excited about Christmas and happy in myself, I boldly took a seat next to Scorpius on the floor, leaning my head on his shoulder. Alice, Al, James and Dom all managed to squash together on the sofa with Roxanne, Molly and Lucy occupying the other two armchairs. Angie sat beside Hugo, opposite Scorpius and I, and also leaned her head on his shoulder.

_Hmm, I'd have to ask her about that at some point..._

"I hate you guys," I muttered under my breath to the others. "It's not even frickin' five in the morning."

"You'll get over it soon enough, Rosie," Scorpius replied, waving a present under my nose, as the others laughed at me, knowing I wasn't really serious about hating them.

"Merlin, it's _actually_ snowing!" Lucy exclaimed suddenly.

As quick as lightning every one of my cousins jumped to their feet and ran to the window where Lucy was sitting.

"Wow!"

"I didn't think it would actually snow!"

"Yes, snowball fight!"

Scorpius and I didn't bother to move, both of us stayed in the exact same place whilst the others shouted over each other about the snow.

"What? Not fascinated with the snow?" Scorpius whispered in my ear as he stroked my hair.

I sighed and shifted my position so that I could see his face. "Should I be?"

Laughing, he replied, "I suppose not."

Suddenly, the weight of all my cousins leaning forwards on that one armchair forced it to fall forwards and tip over. They all went flying and landed spread-eagle on the floor.

The second, and most likely not last, unintentional bundle of the day. And we'd only been up for ten minutes.

Scorpius was the first to start laughing. Hysterically.

They all recovered relatively quickly and placed themselves back into the right armchairs or sofas just as I noticed that it was starting to get light outside.

"Well I'm going to get a drink of water so don't try to bundle me when I get up, alright?" I warned them all as I stood. I don't think I could take too much bundling this morning, I'd barely had six hours sleep and, like I've mentioned before, I really wasn't a morning person.

Speaking of morning people, Lily, who I hadn't noticed was not present, entered the living room at that moment, looking like a train wreck with her messy hair and baggy pyjamas and mumbling some serious threats about Fred, James and Al under her breath.

I couldn't help but laugh with the others, "Morning, Lils."

She took one look at me, turned away disinterested and then her eyes flickered back. "What _are_ you wearing, Roo?"

I looked down at my body as everybody else turned to see what Lily meant. _What was my lunatic cousin talking about?_ "I'm wearing a nightie, Lils. I've had it for a while; you've probably seen it before..."

"I can see that you've had it for a while, Roo. It barely reaches your thighs," she grinned, sitting next to Roxanne and Angie.

I blushed and subconsciously tried to pull the thin material further down my legs as the others smirked at me (particularly Scorpius), having only just noticed what each other were wearing, and Hugo groaned at me, "Your not planning on wearing that all morning, are you? I've got Chris and Tom coming round for lunch and they already drool after you as it is."

I grinned. "Of course I won't wear pyjamas then, Hugh. I'll get all dressed up for them." I joked and rolled my eyes. "Be quiet, Hugh, and stop being so silly. I don't care what _they_ think but I do care what dad'll think with his paranoid mind when he gets downstairs and sees me in this. I'm not stupid; if you're all thinking what I think you're thinking then dad _certainly _is thinking the same. I'm gonna change as soon as I grab some water, 'kay?"

"What'll your dad think?" Roxanne asked, slightly confused.

"You know what Uncle Ron's like," Lucy reminded her. "He'll assume she spent a... what he calls _'night of passion'_ with a guy."

Roxanne muttered, _'paranoid' _in a high-pitched voice as Dom spoke up, "She's related to every guy here, Luce!"

"Except me," Scorpius smirked and winked at me. The others laughed loudly, probably waking up the other members of our family. "I wouldn't mind that happening, either." He joked again.

Al smacked him round the back of the head whilst Fred, James, Hugo and Louis each smacked him simultaneously. "Ouch!" He held up his hands in surrender. "Merlin, I was just joking."

"You better be," Al threatened him as I turned and headed into the kitchen.

I skipped upstairs quickly to change into comfy blue jeans and a deep green shirt but still managed to get back downstairs after everybody else had changed and the adults had started to make their way into the living room in clusters.

"Hey mum," I smiled at my mum as she sat on my fathers lap on one of the sofas, half crushing Uncle Harry as she tried to make them look tidy for when they were certainly to be inspected by Nana Molly later on in the day.

She waved back at me and I briefly caught her reprimand my father with, "Like that would _ever_ happen, Ron..." before my arm was grasped by somebody to my right and I was yanked into the kitchen, left standing in front of Scorpius.

First things first, I smacked him on the arm.

"Ouch! What was that for?" He complained like a child, rubbing his arm as if the hit had hurt him.

"You idiot, my cousins will possibly kill you if you ever say anything like that in front of them again."

"Relax, Rose," he smirked. "I was testing them."

"For what?"

"In case they catch us," he laughed.

"Why would they possibly catch us?" I sighed. "It's not like we'd ever have a reason to snog in the kitchen."

His smirk grew and I knew that he's thought of something to contradict what I'd just said.

With one finger he pointed to the ceiling slowly. I looked up to see a string of mistletoe placed there, most likely during the night by Aunt Angie.

I shook my head as the noise in the living room increased due to the arrival of more parents. This conversation had to go from quiet whispers to silent in case anybody heard us.

Scorpius placed his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him and I tried to communicate with my eyes that this was a _bad_ idea. The friggin' door was still half open.

Luckily, no one was lookng our way.

He leaned in to kiss me and I knew that I wouldn't protest, when the door opened fully and Lily walked backwards into the room, holding two trays of cake and an umbrella in her arms.

I stepped around Scorpius' arms as he reached to help Lily as she turned to face us. "Oh, thanks Scorpius, I thought I was going to drop them for a moment."

Her eyes flickered to me and her eyebrows rose slowly, I shrugged my shoulders once and turned to grab a bowl of cereal.

"We're opening presents in a minute," Lily told us as Scorpius placed the cakes on the counter and the umbrella in the corner of the room. "Tom and Chris are here and they look _fine_."

I giggled at that. "Lily, you've got a boyfriend."

"Yeah, and I love him but, sometimes, Rosie, a girls' gotta have a Christmas kiss..." she grinned then, shooting quick glance at Scorpius. "But you already knew that, didn't you?" then my mischievous cousin headed back out the door.

I turned to glare at Scorpius. "Look at the trouble you've got us into now!"

"Me?" He grinned. "You could have stopped me." I didn't reply to that. He caught on immediately. "But I'm totally irresistible, I understand."

I smacked him on the arm as we left the kitchen, mentally counting the people who knew about us (which consisted of Alice, Teddy and maybe Lily) and joined everybody else in the living room where the number of people had almost doubled since last time.

Most of the teenagers were sitting in a corner by the Christmas tree, eager to get their presents like the five year olds they were.

I placed myself between Tom and Chris (mainly to tease Scorpius), who both grinned like they'd scored, and placed my arms over their shoulders (purely to annoy Hugo).

"Hey guys," I beamed at them. "So glad you could come. How are you both?"

They tripped over their words trying to speak before the other one.

"Gre...abulous."

"Yeah, thanks, You? Good. You? I mean..."

I beamed again at them both. I did this all the time and they still hadn't caught on that I was winding them up. Of course, I didn't do it when we were alone because they'd think I was _serious_, and that was the last thing I wanted. I didn't want either of them to get hurt so I never gave any inclination that something would ever _actually_ happen.

Scorpius glared at Chris from the few inches between them. As Chris raised his hand to place it on my shoulder, Scor smacked it away and then pretended to be interested in something under the sofa as Chris sent him a genuinely puzzled glare.

"Okay, okay," Nana Molly had to yell over the noise to talk to us all. "I supposed we should open our presents first."

The tree was packed full of presents. No wonder our family used to be poor – it took a lot of money to buy presents for everybody.

Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur received a range of flowers, socks and bubble bath; Uncle Percy and Auntie Audrey got given a variety of quills and books; Uncle Charlie was handed about twelve pairs of flame-proof gloves (which were always ruined quickly) and a pair of scissors by Nana Molly to cut his hair; My parents simply received a million books ranging from Ancient Runes to Quidditch teams; Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny were happy with their Quidditch merchandise and new curtains (from Nana Molly); all my cousins, including me, who were on a school Quidditch team received the new top-of-the-line Firebolt Power from the adults, who had pooled together to pay for them all and the rest of my cousins got CDs and scarves for the winter.

Every person in the room was presented with a Weasley jumper, including Alice, Angie, Tom, Chris and Scorpius. Mine was (what I was later told as being) _"Sacramento State" _Green, and had a large 'R' on the front in gold. It matched the one my father was wearing and we beamed at each other every time we passed the other one in the crowded rooms.

Scorpius appeared a little shocked at receiving one but pulled it over his head happily and gave my Nana a huge hug. In response, I think _she_ looked very shocked but patted his back and kissed him on the head.

I was given a battered book by James (which already belonged to me), a few different books on interesting topics such as deadly potions and odd spells to use at school, a pair of fluffy slippers by Lily, an orange Chudley Cannons shirt by my father, a pair of jeans by my mother, a sapphire necklace from Hugo and a few things that I could use in Quidditch, such as gloves and ear muffs to keep me warm in the winter.

Watching Al hand Scorpius the shirt _I'd_ bought him made me want to laugh, because Al really wasn't expecting the shirt to be black, have a scarlet bat on the front, say 'Ballycastle Bats' on the top or 'I'm just batty about butterbeer' along the bottom.

It was a private joke between Scorpius and I because, even though they most certainly weren't Scor's favourite Quidditch team, he always laughed and the advert (for Butterbeer) and jokingly said that he was only aspiring to become a Professional Quidditch Player so that he could star in the butterbeer adverts like their mascot 'Barny the Fruitbat'.

Al looked very confused and quickly exited the room so that it wasn't obvious to Scorpius that he had no idea what the present meant. I followed my cousin into the kitchen, where Alice, Dom, Aunt Angie and Nana Molly were cooking Christmas Dinner.

"Okay, Rosie, you've completely confused me," he complained, throwing himself into the nearest chair at the table.

"Don't worry about it, Al," I laughed. "He's not gonna know the present was from me."

Al glared at me. "_Yes_, he is."

"Okay, so he will, but don't worry about it. Just say Happy Christmas and you can both forget about it."

"That's true," Al smiled and actually looked less worried about what curses Scorpius would use on him for not making the effort of buying a present. "Thanks Rosie."

Al left the room in pursuit of Scorpius as I turned to the others. "Want some help cooking, Nana?" I asked.

"That's alright, Rosie, dear. We're getting there."

"You're joining the Christmas Quidditch in a few, aren't you, Rose?" Aunt Angie asked me.

"Scorpius the other Seeker?" I replied with my own question.

"Yeah," Dom grinned at me. "Uncle Harry said that he'd play the second match after lunch, so Scorpius' their seeker first match."

"Then I'm _definitely_ in," I told them.

"What _do_ you have against that boy, Rosie?" Nana Molly teased me. "He seems charming enough."

"Relax, Nana, it's harmless flirting from them," Dom smirked at me from behind Nana's back.

"It better not be flirting from my baby girl," Glaring at Dom and therefore away from the door I only heard my father's voice as it entered the kitchen, followed closely by my mothers hysterical laugher and then Uncle Harry, too.

I turned and literally froze, along with Dom, who I saw do so out of the corner of my eye. We both froze for different reasons: I was debating whether to laugh or simply look shocked; Dom froze from fear.

Because, yes, Dom _had_ gone through with her dare the night before and my father had taken a shower, only to find his hair turn vivid electric blue.

Nana seemed shocked momentarily and then, eyes flickering to my fathers hysterical wife, tried not to laugh at her son.

"Oh, Ronald," she exclaimed, looking to my mother. "What happened, Hermione?"

My mother tried to gather her thoughts but her laughter just wouldn't subside and her chocolate curls bounced about her face as she shook her head to try and calm herself down, "I... Oh, Merlin... _Ron!_" And then she, rather unhelpfully, burst into tears from laughter along with Uncle Harry.

Dad turned around to look at them both, "Hey! You two are supposed to be my best friends! Best friends wouldn't laugh at me like this."

"Brother-in-law's can..." Uncle Harry grinned.

"Wives, too," my mother beamed at him then actually managed to sober up and pull my father towards her to correct his hair. "It's not been done magically, so it may take me a minute to fix, Ron."

Teddy came bursting through the door, fiancé under his arms, exclaiming loudly, "Tell me it's true, Uncle Ron!"

Then he stopped short at the sight of my father and the kitchen went silent. Very slowly in that few silent seconds, Teddy's hair slowly turned the same colour as my fathers. I wasn't sure how he'd react to _that_ amount of mocking but, thankfully my dad started to laugh, along with everybody else.

"We match!" Teddy exclaimed as Nana Molly squeezed past him to read her cooking book (which she really _did not_ need) that was on the counter behind my metamorphous best friend.

"Did you come in here for any other reason that to humiliate Uncle Ron, Teddy?" Dom glared at him, probably feeling a little guilty that she'd been the one to switch his hair dye.

"I—"

Teddy was interrupted by Uncle George, who pushed open the door loudly, saw the state of his youngest brother's hair (which really did look terrible) and turned his head back to the living room to exclaim, "Fred! James! Get in here, it's hilarious!" and started laughing his head off.

"What's all the fuss about?" I heard James exclaim as they entered and, again, started to laugh uncontrollably.

Eventually Teddy answered Dom's earlier question. "Oh yeah, sorry Dom, I came to tell you all that we were gonna start the match."

"Oh cool," we all expressed our excitement and went of in search for the right equipment such as gloves and brooms.

Meeting outside the house, in the orchard nearby that hid our Quidditch matches well from the rest of the muggle village of Ottery St. Catchpole, I noticed that Scorpius was using Al's recently discarded Firebolt Exclusive.

The teams were full. James, being nominated captain for the first team, had called his "_Al sucks"_ and Al, being nominated for the second team had called his (somewhat appropriately) _"James sucks"_.

To be honest, neither of them were very creative with their team names.

I was forced into team _"Al sucks"_, lead by James (in case you were confused), as seeker. Our beaters were Uncle George and Fred (combining their mischievousness to make one hell of a team), James was the Keeper previously being so for Gryffindor for the last seven years and, as chasers, we also managed to recruit Tom, Aunt Ginny (who absolutely ruled at anything Quidditch related) and Aunt Angie (who also ruled, except when she took time out to reprimand her husband for messing about with Fred, his little protégé).

On the other side of the pitch we had team _"James sucks"_ who _definitely _had the advantage with Hugo, Dom and Al as their chasers because they were all the chasers for Gryffindor at the moment and had obviously been practicing together and were used to playing Quidditch together, they also had Lily as one of their beaters (exactly like our actual house team at school). Angie was joining Lily as their other beater, my dad was their keeper and, obviously, Scorpius (smirking at me because he knew how much his team worked well together) was their seeker.

The match started relatively fair. We played honestly, accepting scores from the other team and not using tricks to divert their attention. And it lasted longer than normal...

If I had to guess I'd say around three – no, _four_ – minutes.

Actually, I'm a little ashamed to say that it was sort of me who started the tricks and deceitful plans. Scorpius flew towards me, stopping close to talk whilst the match went on below us.

"So... thinking about cheating yet?" He asked as if he meant the weather.

"No!" I exclaimed. "Of course not, besides, my team are too good for that."

"Oh really?" He raised his eyebrows. "Well... my team aren't."

And with that he smirked, cast a quick cautious look around us, leaned dangerously forward on his broom, kissed me roughly on the lips so that I was momentarily disorientated (he'd really caught me by surprise, and that wasn't good for my heart) and zoomed after the Snitch.

I saw it then and did the only thing I could think of to distract him from getting the Snitch, I yelled after him. "Hey, Scorpius! I hear Lauren's already bought her wedding dress for your wedding! How's that going?"

_Hey, it was a cheap shot, but it did the trick._ His broom stuttered and then slowed down considerably as I caught up with him and then circled twice before facing him again.

By this point I managed to wink to James, which he knew roughly translated to '_Time to Cheat'_ and everybody else was now desperately distracting the other team from scoring or winning at all costs, whether it was simply shouting abuse at them, throwing Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans (in Fred and Uncle George's case), flirting with some of the other team members (mostly me with Scorpius but also Angie and James) yelling riddles at them (that was Fred, Uncle George and my dad mostly) or good ol' being abusive and slapping the other team members.

The game had been going on rather violently for around an hour by the time I really found my chance.

Scorpius was distracted, trying to get past Uncle George and Fred's riddle with random Jelly-related answers (Don't even ask me how he'd narrowed it down to that) as they held on to either side of his broom so he couldn't move. And that's when I saw the Snitch fly past Angie's shoulder and over towards Hugo at the other end of the pitch.

"Let him go, guys," I told Uncle George and Fred as, zooming past Scorpius, who had obviously seen it too, I called back to him. "May the best team win."

And suddenly, he was zooming after me at top speed as I whirled through the air towards the far goalposts. The Snitch suddenly darted right and back on itself so I made a sharp right turn, momentarily slowing myself down, and darted right after it. Scorpius had caught up by now and we were flying head-to-head, each taking it in turn to inch in front of the other.

Adjusting my position on my broom I extended my left arm, the one closest to Scorpius, and stretched forwards for the Snitch, now only millimetres away.

My skin felt the satisfying coolness of the metal ball in my fist and I revelled in the triumph for the second or two in which I was balanced.

Then, the balance ended and tipped violently and I felt the broom fly out from under me and my body continued to hurtle towards the floor. Amazingly, I could still speak and managed to get out a sarcastic, "Oh, _great_," as the ground got closer.

Scorpius was still beside me, having been flying downwards anyway to catch the Snitch and his freezing fingers managed to clasp themselves firmly around both my wrists and throw me backwards over his broom so that I was sitting behind him as we flew towards the floor.

"Grab your broom, quick!" Scorpius yelled over the loud wind rushing in my ears and we sped up so that I just about managed to reach for my new Firebolt Power before it smashed into the ground.

Landing somewhat gracefully I felt my feet touch the floor as I stumbled off of Scorpius' broom, realised my balance had completely turned upside down and fell onto the floor in my dizziness.

My family all landed around that time too, exclaiming loudly that they'd each seen what had happened _exactly_ and asking if I was alright.

I tried to sit up but couldn't because my eyesight had blurred, so I simply lay on the frozen ground.

After a moment or two, in which my eyes adjusted to the cloudy greyness of the sky, I realised that Scorpius was lying next to me, breathing heavily.

I rolled over onto my side to look at him, "Thanks, Scor," I told him breathlessly.

"No problem," he replied, a little fazed, whilst my family members helped us both up.

"Lucky you were there really, Scor," Al told him. "Otherwise that could have been _nasty_."

"Thanks, Al," I glared at him. "That really makes me feel better knowing that, in different circumstances, I could have been Mince Meat."

He shrugged and turned to Scorpius, "So... who got the Snitch?"

Scorpius and I exchanged a brief look. "Rose did," Scor sighed eventually.

"Yes!" James actually punched the air.

"Alright boys," Ginny reprimanded her sons. "It's Christmas, so let's just be civil to each other and get inside before we all freeze to death."

I fell into step beside Scorpius, flinging my broom over my shoulder. He kept shooting me glances out of the corner of his eye as if he thought I was going to faint at any moment.

"Looks like you're not the only one with the '_polite on Christmas'_ plan," I muttered under my breath, glancing at Aunt Ginny as she strode purposefully between a sulking Al and a boastful James.

He grinned, still looking straight ahead. "It's a good plan."

"It's a _terrible_ plan," I responded automatically.

"Now, now, Rosie," he teased. "What did we say?"

I sighed, "That, _as it was Christmas_, we'd agree to disagree... for today."

"Right," he nodded. "We can go back to arguing tomorrow."

I was saved from trying to politely answer that as we reached the house and, entering the kitchen, the smell of Christmas dinner reached us.

"Great! I'm starving," I heard Uncle Bill exclaim as he hurried down the stairs in the hallway and entered the kitchen.

Soon we were all seated around the table, having magically enlarged the room slightly to fit us all in, and rushing through portions of delicious Christmas dinner.

Scorpius was seated almost at the opposite end of the table, wedged between Nana Molly (who I think secretly loved him) and Uncle Bill, which meant that I couldn't speak to him at all throughout the meal. At first I found that I liked this, because I really couldn't put up with him the whole holiday and it was good to forget about this... _affair_... we were having, if only for a little while.

Okay, so I know that _'affair' _wasn't exactly the right word to use, but I kind of saw it as secretive like that and something that we _should most definitely not_ be doing... which, of course, it was.

My family liked him, but did they want to accept him as a possible _member_ of the family. After all, if we started dating, it wouldn't be something we entered in to lightly, and they'd expect a serious relationship.

_Whoa, not that we were thinking of dating each other or anything..._

"Hey, Rose... are you alright?" I blinked and turned to my right to see Victoire looking, well... trying to look concerned but really extremely content.

I laughed at her expression. "Oh, Tory, I know you're trying to look concerned but you're really not doing very well."

"Hey! It's not my fault," she joined in the laughter quietly.

I sighed eventually. "Of course not. You, my cousin, are getting _married _in _two _days!"

"I know!" She squealed. "Merlin, I used to _hate_ that boy. He was _so_ annoying and he was _everywhere_."

Involuntarily, I shot a quick glance at Scorpius where he was laughing loudly about something that Nana Molly had said. He winked at me and then turned back to give my Nana his full attention. I blushed bright red uncontrollably and quickly gulped down mouthfuls of Pumpkin Juice for something else to do.

"So... Rose..." Victoire raised her eyebrows suggestively to show that she knew something was going on. "Snogged any boys outside your door lately?"

I spat the mouthfuls of juice out without thinking (luckily I'd finished eating) and successfully attracted _a lot_ of attention my way.

All conversations stopped as my whole family and friends turned to stare at me. "S-S-Sorry about that..." I laughed but my voice shook with panic.

As everybody turned back to finish eating and their conversations started up again I caught Scorpius' eye with a '_We **need **to talk'_ look and turned back to Victoire, leaning in closer so that our conversation could not be overheard.

"_Tory!"_ I hissed. "Tell me what you know and don't you dare repeat any of it to _anybody_."

She laughed quietly, loving the power she held over me. "Relax, Rosie, I'm not going to tell anybody, it'll mean certain death for you and I wouldn't do that to my favourite cousin."

"Favourite cousin?" I was momentarily distracted, but then I remembered what it was she was trying to distract me from.

I slapped her as hard as I could on the arm.

"Vicky!" She grimaced, hating being called that. "How did you know?"

"I saw you, Rosie," She sighed patiently. "I looked over the banister last night to make sure that your bedroom door was shut and you girls were asleep when I was struck by a very _disturbing_ image of the two of you... I have to say, Rosie, I didn't think you'd ever kiss a boy like _that."_

_ "_Shut _up_, Tory," I shushed her as Nana Molly served pudding to everybody, standing close by. "Please, please, _please_ don't tell anybody."

After a few, very agonising, seconds she grinned at me. "Rosie... one day I'll tell you the story of how my friend Sky discovered Teddy and I. And this? This is _exactly_ like that."

"What do you mean by _'exactly'_?" I was suddenly suspicious.

_This couldn't be like that because, if I wasn't mistaken..._I thought suddenly. _Victoire was _**marrying** _her jerk._

No... no, this couldn't be exactly like that.

_Because my jerk was Scorpius._

* * *

><p>As soon as Christmas dinner was over and many of the others had left to play a second game of Quidditch it was only Teddy and Victoire (who sat in the far corner of the room in the same chair mumbling and laughing quietly to each other) and Nana Molly, Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur (the last two kept shooting Teddy glares that clearly had the message '<em>If looks could kill'<em> named after them) who sat in the living room.

I could hear my parents laughing in the kitchen and decided to avoid that room at all costs. The only other room with people in was Roxanne's room upstairs where her, Lucy, Molly, Hugo, Angie and Tom were eating sweets and messing about.

I made my way slowly and quietly up the staircase and headed to my room. Thankfully, it was empty.

Collapsing onto my bed, I sighed before realising that it had been completely overcome with Christmas decorations; tinsel framed the window and mirror, models of Rudolph and Santa Clause had been placed on my bed-side table and windowsill and mistletoe hung from above me.

I sighed again. "Man, that woman has an obsession," I mumbled under my breath about Aunt Angie.

"Hey, Rose?" James knocked on the door politely. "Can I come in?"

That shocked me a little. James? Being _polite?_

"Errm, yeah, sure," I agreed as the door opened and my cousin came and sat down nervously on the end of my bed.

He didn't speak for a full three minutes, simply stared at my cupboard.

"Jay... are you alright?" I eventually asked him.

"Errm... no," he smiled at me weakly. "I..."

He seemed to struggle for a moment but then pulled out a wallet full of fake ID's and galleons and passed a picture over to me.

Like all pictures in the Wizarding World, this one was moving too. It showed James standing behind a pretty girl about his age, at a guess, with cropped blonde hair and hugging her over her shoulders whilst fallen leaves flew around them in the wind. They both looked to the camera for a second, smiled, then he whispered something in her ear and she started to laugh and the picture replayed.

I smiled. Looking to James, I told him. "You're going to have to explain it to me, Jay."

He sighed quietly. "Her name's Élodie... and she's my girlfriend."

"You have a _girlfriend_?"

"Yeah," he looked up at me. "I should have said something. I mean, I've been seeing her for almost eighteen months now—"

"—You've had a girlfriend for _eighteen months_?"

"I know, Rose!" He was suddenly angry. "I didn't tell anyone about her because even _I_ didn't think I'd be able to commit to a proper relationship."

"That's not what I meant, James," I tried to tell him.

"Well it's what everybody else is going to say when I tell them," he snapped and then started to breathed slowly to calm himself down.

"Why now? I mean, why do you suddenly want us to know?" I asked softly, hoping he wouldn't snap at me again.

"Because she's coming to the wedding and I wanted... I wanted to be a couple," he confessed.

"She's coming to the..." my voice trailed off from confusion.

"Yeah, well, she's sort of Tory's friend, you see..."

"James..." I said slowly and clearly (_I think I had a headache coming)_. "Explain. Now."

"Okay, well," he stood up, paced the room and few times and then sat back down beside me on the bed. "I met her at New Years two years ago when Victoire bought a few of her friends. She's Aurora's younger sister."

I briefly remembered that Aurora was one of Victoire's best friends. Her, Sky and Aurora were all from French families and in the same dorm when she started at Hogwarts so, naturally, they bonded over that.

"And we started talking and even I was surprised that I got on well with her. Aurora and Victoire don't know about us... I don't think. But we decided to tell you guys that we were dating 'cause it was about time and I really thought that you lot would think that I was joking 'cause I'm terrible with girlfriends so I thought that... that maybe if I told you first that you'd back me up a little if they don't believe me to be sensitive and caring?"

He looked so hopeful that I really wondered how he could even think that I wouldn't back him up. "James," I sighed. "You're _so_ lucky that you have such a sweet baby cousin like me."

He grinned at me. "I knew I loved you for a reason, Rosie."

"I'm still trying to figure out what the reason for loving y_ou_ is, James," I laughed.

"Thanks, Rosie. I'll see you later," James smiled at me and I saw what Élodie must see in him – he was a good guy really. As he went to open the door I closed my eyes and heard him add, "Oh, hey Scorpius."

My eyes shot open as the door closed, flooding the room in almost darkness again, and I was left alone with Scorpius.

He raised his eyebrows at me. "Victoire knows about… _this," _he waved his hand around in front of him as a meaning.

"I know," I sighed. "How did you know?"

"How did _you_ know?"

"She told me at dinner."

"Ah… she likes to make uncalled for comments like Teddy too," Scor told me, sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Oh no, what did she do this time?" I sighed, leaning back.

"I got cold outside watching their Quidditch Match – your Uncle Harry's just _amazing_, by the way – so I came back and I heard voices in the kitchen—"

"—you didn't go in there did you?" I pleaded, hoping that he hadn't.

"No… and I didn't want to."

"Oh, thank Merlin."

"Your parents are just as in love with each other as Victoire and Teddy are, that's obvious, I didn't need to see them snogging."

I giggled as he leaned back to lie beside me. "Good."

"Anyway, I went into the living room and I asked where Al and James were and your Nana told me that James said he was coming up here to talk to you, which he did, and then Victoire called across the room, _"I'm sure you know where her room is, Scor"_."

"And you assumed that that meant that she knew?" I laughed.

"Well, actually it was when Teddy started laughing like he'd just heard the funniest thing in the world that gave it away."

"Ah…" I agreed. "Victoire knows."

"So does Teddy."

"So does Alice."

"And Lily…"

"Great," I mumbled.

"So…" Scorpius whispered, turning on his side to face me as the rain outside started to plummet onto the roof and window pane. "What does that mean?"

"Nothing," I whispered quickly.

"Nothing," he agreed.

"We're not _really_ doing anything so there'll be nothing to know as soon as we go back to Hogwarts."

"In three days," Scorpius added.

"In three days this is over and we'll go back to being friends," I clarified.

"Exactly…" he breathed.

We were silent, not knowing what to say.

The sound of girlish screaming and loud bangs and crashes could be heard upstairs whilst downstairs brought us laughter and raised voices. In my room, though, the dim light on my bedside table and noise of the rain from outside made it calm and peaceful, almost as if it was a different building altogether.

Scorpius reached over gently to sweep back a strand of hair that had fallen over my eyes. I felt his breath on my throat and did the natural thing and leaned forward to kiss him softly. In a matter of seconds we had our arms wrapped around each other and the temperature in the room rose a few degrees from body heat.

After a while I noticed that the house was suddenly quiet. _How long had we been kissing for?_

"Scor...Scor—," I giggled as he continued to kiss and suck on my neck. "Scor!"

"What?" He mumbled dejectedly, propping himself up on his elbows, his face inches away from mine.

"It's quiet..." I explained.

"Does that matter to us?" He asked, confused.

I thought about that for a moment. "No, not really."

And we went back to doing what we were doing before.

Having fun the teenager way.

* * *

><p><strong>Hey, again, all.<strong>

**Just a heads up, the next chapter will be written in Scorpius' POV. Well, maybe only part of it but probably all of it. I really haven't written much in his POV except the small part in chapter... 8(?) So I hope you like it.**

**Again, I would like to say that I LOVE YOU ALL. Honestly.**

**So, I'm going to ask you a question. (I know, exciting, isn't it?) What has been your favourite moment in the story so far? And why? It would be real interesting to find out what you like the best. Or, alternatively, what's been your least favourite moment?**

**And also, if you have any questions or thoughts or theories or ideas that you'd think would be cool to see coming up, I'd love to know. **

**Thanks again for reading! :D**

**P.s. I saw Rise of the Planet of the Apes - how awesome was Tom Felton in it? Granted, his character _was_ horrible, but his acting was brilliant!  
><strong>


	15. One Of Them Will Catch Your Heart

**Hey, all.**

**It's finally the wedding. Yay! I hope I did it justice... I **_**love**_** Teddy and Victoire. I might even write a little story for them after this one (but that'll be a while yet).**

**Now, importantly, this one is in SCORPIUS' POV. So, I hope you like it. I find that I needed a change for once and I really loved writing Scorpius' POV in that earlier chapter. I've never read a Tory/Teddy wedding from Scor's POV either, so I hope this will be interesting... **

**Anyhoo, the next chapter will be back to good ol' Hogwarts. Yay... I think that, after about five chapters, we're ready to return, are we not, readers?**

* * *

><p>I've never been to a wedding before. Well, not a wedding to this scale.<p>

Everywhere I looked there was somebody rushing around trying to solve a problem or somebody looking lost.

_It reminded me of every second of yesterday. _Mrs Weasley was running around with the others in tow trying to sort out everything whilst Teddy and Victoire simply looked anxious and excited. None of us wanted to get in her way but we had to put ourselves in that dangerous situation to ask if she wanted help. Not knowing Mrs Weasley as well, I was the least scared (roughly translating into the most brave to talk to her when she was... preoccupied), so I offered help first. I was starting to think that she liked me... hopefully.

Almost all the chairs at the wedding were full of guests, some from the Weasley side and others from Victoire's French family. The only blood relative of Teddy's was his Grandma Andromeda, who was looking extremely pale, old and ill despite the large smile that had permanently spread across her face for the day.

It was hectic. Honestly, there were so many people with either red hair or that looked completely (and unbelievably) beautiful that I thought I was simply seeing double of everybody as I tried to negotiate between them all to get to the entrance.

Talking about beautiful people with red hair, I spotted Rose as I walked out of the large marquee and into the garden of the Burrow. She really did look beautiful in her long, backless flowing midnight blue dress that the bridesmaids had been assigned as she laughed with a pretty older girl who I'd never seen before by the back door to the Burrow.

I approached them, walking through the snow in my shiny (well, not-so-shiny anymore) shoes, and stopped beside Rose.

Despite being mid-conversation, she turned and gave me a heart-breaking smile before introducing me to the other girl. "Scor, this is Élodie Petit. Élodie, this is Scorpius Malfoy."

"Hello, Scorpius," she pronounced her English well (if anything a little slower than normal) in a light, breezy voice.

"Nice to meet you," I gave her my best smile and then turned my full attention onto Rose. "Do you know where Teddy is? Andromeda says that he wants to talk to me."

"He does?" She asked, looking genuinely confused.

"Apparently so... I'm confused too," I grinned again.

"I think he's up in Uncle Bill's old room," she told me, and then added. "Probably just freaking out."

"Great," I muttered sarcastically.

"You'll be alright, Scor. Ted likes you."

"He does?" I asked, feeling another smile play at the corner of my mouth.

"Of course," Rose told me sweetly and I _did_ grin then.

"How long have you two been dating?" Élodie asked us suddenly.

"What?"

"We... I'm sorry?"

I looked at Rose, a little confused as to how to answer her. Then we both started to laugh.

_It was so typical that we were stuck in these types of situations._

"We're not dating," I answered Élodie firmly. "Anyway, I better go. If Teddy _is_ freaking out he's probably gone orange with pink spots and green hair."

I left them then and eventually found Teddy where Rose said he would be. I pushed open the door to see him sitting on the edge of the bed, suit on and twiddling his thumbs nervously. His skin looked a little green from nervousness.

_No,_ I corrected myself on a second glance. _His skin actually __**was**__ green._

"Ted?" I asked to announce my presence. "You alright?"

"Oh, hey Scor," he looked like he hadn't even heard what I'd said. "I'm getting married today."

"I know," I tried my hardest not to smirk at his behaviour. Teddy was normally very cool and acted so, even if he wasn't feeling cool. But today he was a complete mess. "Ted, your tie is a mess."

"I'm wearing a tie?" He asked, looking down to try and see it.

"Don't worry, man, you'll be fine. You're marrying _Victoire_ after all."

"Yeah," he beamed. "I'm finally marrying Tory. Merlin, it took me long enough to propose, let alone ask her out."

"Why?" I grinned. "You should have just asked her when you realised you liked her, Ted."

He didn't answer me, only stood up to check how many people had arrived out the window. "You asked Rose out yet, Scorpius?" He asked in a tone that I expected to hear from a protective big brother or father.

I tripped on my way over to the cupboard and only just managed to keep my balance by landing on the bed. "You what?"

"Well?" Teddy asked again. "Isn't it about time you asked her out, rather than leaving it late like I did?"

"But...but you and Tory are completely different to Rose and I," I complained.

Teddy laughed and I heard him mutter under his breath, "Holiday romance."

"What?" I asked, suddenly remembering the way he'd laughed when he guessed that we decided to only have a holiday romance until the end of Christmas break.

_Which was only until tomorrow,_ I sighed.

"Scor... I know how it goes. You finally realise that there's this amazing girl that you like and who actually likes you but you deny any feelings more than those expected from hormonal teenagers for each other because you don't think its right."

"Yeah..." I agreed reluctantly; _that was how it was going for us._

"Be careful, because you'll soon realise that you miss the romance and you'll soon fall back into it in secret. It'll be '_only for the holiday'_, then _'just until valentine's day'_, then it's _'only until school breaks up'_, then you realise that you're officially a couple and your weddings the next day."

"Relax, Ted," I chuckled. "It's not like that."

"_'You better watch your back; one of them will catch your heart some day,'_" he recited to me.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked a little defensively as the door was pushed open and Mr Harry walked in.

"You'll know within the week, Scor," Teddy chuckled. "It might even come to you by the time you board the train tomorrow."

"You better get down there, Scorpius, they're starting soon," Mr Harry told me and I quickly left the room, glad to be in the fresh air and happy to see that Ted was returning to his normal skin colour.

After a few quiet moments leaning against the back door and trying to gather my thoughts (which Teddy had officially scattered for me) I walked swiftly over to the large marquee and took my seat beside Al at the front and Rose's empty one.

Only a few moments later did Teddy appear at the front, looking shaky but the correct colour, with Mr Harry and Mr Ron as his support. A tune began to play from the small orchestra in the corner and the bridesmaids made their way slowly down the isle in pairs.

Teddy and Victoire had realised only the day before that Victoire had too many bridesmaids to stand up at the front of the marquee with her. Instead of demoting some of Victoire's cousins she decided to have most of them walk up the isle and then take a seat at the front instead of standing beside her.

First came Dominique, being Victoire's only sister, wearing the same lovely midnight blue dress that I saw Rose wearing earlier. She grinned at Teddy as she approached and winked as she stood near him, leaving a gap for her sister. After her, Victoire's best friends, Aurora and Sky, elegantly strolled down the isle together, also beaming widely, and took their places beside Dominique. Molly and Lucy followed, looking scarily similar wearing the same dress, and took a set each at the front but on the opposite side of the isle. Roxanne had chosen not to walk down the isle in a long flowing dress and high heels because she didn't want to make a fool of herself or ruin Victoire's wedding by knocking over the whole orchestra. Knowing Roxanne to sometimes be clumsier than Rose when anxious or nervous, Victoire had agreed. Lastly Rose and Lily walked next to each other, arms interlocked, and both waved to their fathers at the front before sitting in the front row. Rose took her seat beside me and Lily and sent me another huge grin before turning to the back of the marquee.

And suddenly the whole marquee was on their feet as a wedding march was started up and Victoire, along with her beaming father, appeared at the far end of the isle.

She wore the traditional white in a long strapless flowing dress that was simple yet made her look absolutely stunning. I could see why Teddy had fallen for her, most of the guys she wasn't related to were drooling after her already. My favourite were Tom and Chris, who weren't used to seeing her dressed up and looking her supreme best.

And still, I couldn't help but glance briefly to my right where Rose was beaming at her cousin, tears in her eyes. She still looked beautiful even with tear tracks down her face.

I reached over and placed my hand in hers, where they were clasped together in her lap. "You alright?" I whispered.

"Yeah, I'm just so happy for them," she beamed back at me.

We both turned back to the front as Victoire and Bill reached Teddy and her father handed her over to him.

"Keep her safe," we heard him whisper to Teddy, whose hair had turned bright yellow (much to the surprise of those in the audience who did not know that he was a metamorphous) and then he took a seat at the front next to his own wife, who was crying hard.

Looking to Teddy, I wasn't completely surprised to see that he was about to cry, and the minister hadn't even started talking yet.

"She looks amazing," Rose leaned over to whisper in my ear and I nodded to show that I agreed.

Victoire chose that moment to make eye-contact with us and grinned as tears sprung to her eyes too. Rose beamed back at her and I put my thumbs up as encouragement.

When she turned back to face her soon-to-be husband, Victoire sighed dramatically in an '_I can't believe he can't do one simple thing when I'm not there' _and reached forwards to re-tie Teddy's tie. He grinned stupidly at her.

The wedding was rather slow but, when it's between two people you care about and who you know love each other, it's never boring. The whole time I was also aware of two small hands enclosed around my own and it made me feel like I belonged with these people.

My attention was highest when the minister turned to Teddy and told him to "repeat after me".

Teddy repeated earnestly, looking deep into Tory's eyes, "I, Theodore Remus Lupin, take you, Victoire Gabrielle Weasley, to be my beloved wife, to have and to hold you, to honor you, to treasure you, to be at your side in sorrow and in joy, in the good times, and in the bad, and to love and cherish you always. I promise you this from my heart, _baby girl_, for all the days of my life."

Victoire grinned and it looked like she'd cry harder when Teddy called her "_baby girl"_. It seemed it was an inside joke between them.

By this point, even _I_ had tears in my eyes, and I'd only known the two of them particularly well this past week. But it was obvious to anybody that they were so deeply in love. The same thing could be seen with Hermione and Ron, Harry and Ginny, all the couples in this family, really. It must be something that surrounded these Weasley's, but they were all passionate and, when it came to love, they didn't mess around.

Victoire said the same back, almost having to stop from tears running down her face, which Teddy reached over to gently wipe away.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife," the minister declared. "You may kiss the bride."

They both grinned widely before Teddy wrapped his arms around her tightly, lifting her off her feet.

The whole marquee erupted into cheers and clapping as everyone got to their feet to yell their congratulations.

The chairs disappeared and were swiftly replaced by tables and chairs surrounding a large dance floor in the middle of the marquee. A band made their way on stage as people filtered off into different directions to get drinks or seats, some onto the dance floor as the first song started up and many went to swarm the newly weds.

I turned to Rose, Alice and Al, "Shall we find a seat and give the others a minute?" I asked.

"Good idea," Al agreed, looking like he wanted anything but a touchy feely moment with Teddy, and led us over to a table near to the drinks and the dance floor.

I collapsed into a chair next to Roxanne as their other cousins made their way over and sat around the table with us.

"How long 'til you reckon Fred gets drunk again?" Al asked absent-mindedly.

"Hey, I'm sitting right here," Fred complained from opposite me.

"So how long do you reckon?" Rose prompted.

"Probably a few hours," he grinned.

"Hey all!" Came two cheery, overly-ecstatic voices and then Teddy and Victoire both sat themselves down in the same chair around the table.

Everybody started to speak at once.

"Hey!"

"Congratulations, you two!"

"It's the Lupin's!"

Victoire held up her left hand so that she could show off her ring to us – it was mostly the girls that were interested in that. _But it was huge and shiny._

"What are you doing over here, anyway?" Rose asked. "Shouldn't you be putting up with all the _'congratulations'_ by the random cousins you've never even met and who barely speak a word of English?"

"No way," Teddy told us as Victoire and he laughed.

"They didn't _have_ to come," Victoire added. It seemed like she wasn't very close to many of her French relatives.

"Harsh, but true," Molly agreed surprisingly.

"Anyway," James stood up, looking around anxiously. "I'm… err, I'm going to go and find somebody…" Everybody gave him a curious stare. "Rose will tell you."

And he ran off quickly, disappearing through the crowds. We all turned to stare at Rose.

"What was that about?" Angie asked.

"Come on, tell us, Rose," Victoire pleaded when she didn't speak right away. "It can be our wedding present."

"Which, by the way, you haven't gotten us," Teddy added jokingly.

"Give her a moment," I told them, knowing that she usually needed a second or two to collect her thoughts sometimes.

And I was right.

It took her a minute, but Rose eventually looked at us all and told us, "James probably just went to look for his girlfriend."

"His _what_?" Fred exclaimed first.

"I'm sorry, what?" Lily looked completely puzzled.

"James doesn't have a girlfriend," Al argued.

I had to agree with him there. We'd _know _if James had a girlfriend, right?

"Okay, okay," Rose motioned with her hands for everybody to be quiet. "Shut up. Leave him alone. James _really_ likes Élodie and I think it's really helped him grow as a person so he doesn't need you all constantly undermining him, okay?"

"Élodie?" Victoire was shocked much more than the others, having known Élodie since she was six years old.

There was a quiet grumbling response of a dejected 'alright' from everybody before James suddenly graced the scene again, Élodie standing with him.

She looked at Victoire first, one of the only friendly faces in this circle of red-headed-crazy-family-ness, and smiled sheepishly.

"You're dating _Jay_?" Tory asked, shocked, but kindly.

Élodie nodded. "The wedding was beautiful."

"Thanks," they both replied.

"Everybody," James grabbed the attention of us all again. "This is Élodie, Aurora's little sister."

We all greeted her with a kind 'hello' and Roxanne grabbed a seat for them both to sit in and join us around the table.

"Better go talk to the relatives," Teddy nudged Victoire and they both hauled themselves to their feet, sighing.

"You owe us a present, Rosie," Victoire joked and then waved goodbye to us as they walked towards the other side of the marquee where some of the older French relatives of Victoire were huddled and talking in rapid French.

We all replied with one, very loud "Bye Mr. and Mrs. Lupin," led by Fred.

They both beamed at us as they walked across the dance floor.

"So," Alice spoke up, addressing Élodie. "How long have James and you been dating?"

"Since June last year," she replied casually.

"_June?"_ Lily spoke up. "Man, that's _ages_."

"James has been in a serious relationship for _eighteen months_?"I joked.

"Very funny, Scorpius," he sighed. "It's not that weird."

"Yes it is," Lucy replied, smiling.

"I find that even the biggest rebels can find themselves in a serious relationship if they find the right girl," Al beamed at Alice, who kissed him on the cheek.

"I agree," Rose and I spoke at the same time. We exchanged a grin at that.

_Not that we were in a serious relationship. Just a fling, _I reminded myself.

Teddy's words from this morning came back to me and I hoped that nobody looked my way in case I was blushing or looking confused at a pretty simple conversation.

"Why _James_, though," Louis asked Élodie. "He's so… so—"

"—Louis!" James interrupted him. "Do _not_ finish that sentence."

Élodie laughed with a happy, musical laugh. "Jay eez a great guy and I love him dearly."

"Love?" Hugo asked first.

"Of course," she replied.

"I love her too," James stated firmly, taking her hand. Nobody argued.

"Man, you should have told us sooner," Al suddenly told his brother whilst Lily nodded.

"Yeah, I should have," James sighed as Élodie smiled kindly at him.

"At least _you_ knew," Al tried to get his brother to sympathize with him. "This lot all knew that I liked Ally before _I_ did."

Alice laughed the loudest as a voice suddenly came over the microphone at the front of the stage, announcing that the bride and groom would be having their first dance now.

Teddy and Victoire took to the floor gracefully and danced a slow waltz for a while to a classical tune. One, I'm told, that Bill and Fleur danced to as their first dance at their own wedding.

Soon enough they started gathering people to their feet to dance too. Many looked weary, perhaps not knowing how to dance or not wanting to be one of the first couples up on the floor.

The first few couples were Harry and Ginny and Bill and Fleur and a couple of other older people who knew how to waltz. None of the youngsters had expressed the desire to properly dance and risen to their feet.

I sighed, feeling as if at least a few of us lot (the largest crowd of stubborn teenagers at one table) should get to their feet, even if it _was_ classical dancing.

I turned to Rose, being sure to make eye contact, and raised my eyebrows, smiling.

"You know I can't dance properly," she grumbled.

"But_ I_ can," I smirked, sounding pompous.

"Scor…" she warned half-heartedly.

"Come _on_, Rosie," I attempted to persuade her, leaning forwards to make her look in my eyes. I knew she couldn't refuse my seductiveness, even if she did insist otherwise.

She squirmed in her seat and sighed. I knew I'd won.

"Fine," she exclaimed, getting to her feet.

Beaming, I copied her move and we walked out onto the dance floor. Victoire noticed us from over Teddy's shoulder and mouthed 'thank you' because we were the only teenagers who looked willing to dance or particularly happy about it.

We grinned back and started to waltz.

As soon as it was just us two, Rose sighed. "Now I've got to get them a present."

"I don't think Tory meant it seriously," I informed her.

"I know, but now she's said it I won't be able to think of anything else unless I get her a present."

I smirked, "I bet I can fix that for you."

She slapped me across the arm. "Scor!"

"Alright, alright," I laughed. "You've got plenty of time to procrastinate. We go back to Hogwarts tomorrow anyway," I reminded her.

"Yeah," she sighed unhappily.

_What did that mean? Did she not want this to end? Did I want this to end? Did she simply not want to go back to school? Was I thinking too much into this? _My thoughts started to go off at a tangent.

"Anyway, you didn't get _me_ a Christmas present," I reminded her. "And that's not bothering you."

"Well…" she smiled mischievously at me as the song finished and we hurriedly left the dance floor, happy that we'd only had to dance to less than half a song, heading off in a random direction. "I'd like to think that the whole evening was your Christmas present."

Remembering that evening brought a smile to my face. We were able to be together to laugh and kiss and talk all evening without anybody realizing, as long as one of us made an appearance downstairs or to watch a few minutes of a Quidditch match.

"Hmm..." I muttered. "I don't recall that evening..."

"Maybe you need some reminding?" She teased, glancing over her shoulder.

"Maybe I do," I agreed, pulling her into a small space in one of the far corners of the marquee where no light reached and no guest dared to venture.

She managed to pull her body closer to mine and work her hands so that they were under the jacket of my suit.

With my back against the thin material of the tent it felt cold due to the winter air and snow-covered ground, but Rose's body was warm against mine and I soon forgot about the weather.

One thing's for sure, Rose Weasley was much more enjoyable to kiss than any other girl I'd ever dated. She just interested me like nobody else ever had. And she knew exactly what she was doing.

I grabbed a handful of her hair and keenly pulled her body closer to me. Lately it seemed as if we couldn't be close enough. Maybe it was because we knew that this would be ending soon.

After a few minutes in which I could taste the strawberry on her lips and feel her soft lips crash on mine, Hermione's voice rang out dangerously close to where we were.

We both broke apart but didn't dare move much more in case Hermione noticed the movement in the darkness only a few centimeters beside her. Rose's face went from shock to fear as her father appeared with Hugo and Angie.

"She was dancing with Scorpius, last I saw," Angie commented and I felt like screaming out for her to be quiet.

"Where's Scorpius now?" Ron asked.

"I don't know, I haven't seen him either," Hugo answered. "Al will probably know."

"I don't like this," Ron said.

"Why?" Hugo sounded genuinely confused.

"If they're both missing then there are only a few reasons why," Ron elaborated. _How right he was…_ I mused.

"Stop being so paranoid, Ronald," Hermione sighed at her husband. "Let's go find Al."

All four of them moved off, disappearing through the crowds now dancing to more modern tunes, and Rose and I wasted no time in straightening our clothes and fixing our hair.

"Ready?" I asked. She nodded.

We quickly made our way out of the darkness and casually arrived at the table that we were sitting at beforehand.

We barely had enough time to sit in our seats and start sipping at drinks before Hugo and Al stormed over from nowhere and towered over me as I slumped in my seat.

"Scorpius," Hugo started curtly.

"Hugh…" I said, my voice sounding surprised, confused and amused.

"Mind if we have a word," Al spoke up frostily. I knew he wasn't really asking and this thought was confirmed when they both grasped one of my shoulders and yanked me away from the table.

"Whoa," I mumbled, placing my feet firmly on the floor and easily pushing their hands off me. "Guys, what's all this about."

"Is there something going on between you and Rose?" Al got straight to the point whilst Hugo folded his arms and nodded in a way that was meant to be threatening.

"Calm down," I almost yelled at them. "Rose and I are good friends. You already know this."

"Good friends?" Hugo scoffed.

"Yes," I agreed. "We have been all year. Why the sudden paranoia?"

"Look, Scor," Al put his arm over my shoulders in an _'I'm going to tell you a secret'_ kind of way. "You and Rose have been awkward lately, and then flirty and then really close. And now, you both seem to disappear at the same time."

"You understand why we're… concerned?" Hugo added.

"Look, guys," I ducked out from underneath Al's arm. "There is _nothing_ going on between Rose and I. I don't have time for girls. And, anyway, my parents are trying to get me set up with Harriet Young because they know her parents and—"

"—and Rose seems to have another admirer," Hugo interrupted cheerily.

Al and I both turned to look where he was pointing to over our shoulders. And there was Rose, laughing and smiling with another tall, blonde guy by the drinks table. He looked about nineteen or twenty, almost three years older than Rose, and was one of those guys that you'd _never_ want near your sister.

"Well… I think you get the message," Hugo quickly said. Then him and Al shared a look and hurried away to interrupt Rose's conversation.

Me? I wasn't worried about what this meant for Rose and I. I mean, we were going to stop all this messing around after today and go back to normal. Besides, I quite liked Harriet. She was a nice girl…

_Who am I kidding?_ I really hate that blonde-haired nineteen year old.

And then he did the worst thing that he could possibly do when standing less than ten metres from five guys that cared about Rose – he asked her to dance.

As you can imagine, we didn't like that.

It took less than a nanosecond (not _literally_) for Al, Hugo, Fred, James and I to block their path to the dance floor.

"I'm Hugo," Hugh held up his hand for Blondie to shake. "Rose's brother."

"James," he introduced himself.

"Albus," Al followed his brother.

"Fred," amazingly, he was already a little drunk.

"We're the cousins," James added.

"Hi," I stepped forwards, taller than the others, including Blondie. "I'm Scorpius."

He looked confused for a moment, and then spoke in a _disgustingly_ smug voice. "Scorpius Malfoy?"

He might as well have said _'You're never going to be competition with that last name'_.

"And you are?" Al asked rudely, but not rude enough.

"I'm John," he replied smugly.

_John?_

"Oh… how _ordinary,"_ I threw back at him politely, ignoring his offered hand to shake.

"Isn't _Albus_ a little ordinary?" He replied snootily, shooting Al a look that proved that he thought he was superior.

Al had to be physically restrained by myself and Fred so that he didn't punch Blondie in the face. _He was a little touchy about his name._ To be honest, I don't know why I didn't just… slip. After all, if the guy couldn't take one little punch, he wasn't really a man, was he?

I'd already decided that he didn't deserve Rose.

"Is there something we can help you with?" Rose asked us pointedly, placing her hands on her hips. The light caught her hair as she flipped it out of her face and I wished to Merlin that I could just hold her then.

James' voice brought me back to the present. "No, no, we just came to introduce ourselves to your… friend."

"Jay?" A voice that I assumed was Élodie's called from behind us.

"I'll be watching you, _John_," James threatened before running off to find his girlfriend.

"Hey, Rose, look," Hugo pointed over her shoulder to distract her. "Tory and Ted are about to cut the cake, let's go get a good spot."

Al and him each took hold of one of Rose's elbows and steered her across to the other side of the room where Ted and Tory looked as if they were plotting how best to start a wedding cake food fight without Mrs. Weasley going _mental._

_Such children._

That left me standing with Blondie, who looked particularly smug when Rose turned round to get another look at him. In actual fact, she turned round to shoot me a _'Don't you dare threaten him or I'll kill you'_ look (which she saved just for me) as Al went in the opposite direction with his expression of '_You let him know that we mean the threats'_.

"So, _Jake—"_

"—it's John."

"Whatever," I snapped. "It looks as if you're interested in our Rose…"

_Must not say __**my **__Rose, must not say __**my**__ Rose…_

"Yeah, she's _hot_."

"No, Jeff," I ignored it when he opened his mouth to correct me again, suddenly even angrier than before. "No, she's not '_hot'_! Don't you _dare_ talk about Rose like that! You don't deserve somebody like her, Josh. She's kind and clever and cares about everybody she meets—"

"I—," he tried to interrupt again, to defend himself.

"_And_," I cut him off again. "I'm only going to tell you this once, Jim. So listen carefully, because I'm not wasting my breath on you and I'm _certainly_ not letting somebody like you hurt her."

"Who do you think you are?" He seemed slightly angry, but it was nothing compared to me. How _dare_ he think he's good enough for Rose?

"Rose," I clamped my hand over his right shoulder, crushing it in a way that was obviously painful, and forced him to make eye contact, "is nothing short of beautiful."

I caught a flash of red out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Rose's exuberant face searching the crowd. "Scor!" she beckoned me over quickly, ignoring Blondie completely. "They're cutting the cake."

And with that I decided this… this _guy_ wasn't worthy of my time, and hurried away to somebody who was worth _all_ my time and more.

I made sure to wave patronizingly to Blondie as I went.

And then suddenly, seeing Rose's face in the light, listening to her laugh softly in my ear as Ted and Tory threw cake at each other, remembering the phrase that Teddy had recited to me this morning, actually listening to what I'd just told Blondie, it all connected into place.

Did I… Did I have _feelings_ for Rose?

* * *

><p><strong>YAY, finally a little look into that guy we love the most. I hope you liked this difference from the norm. Let me know… I think I have bits of upcoming chapters from Alice's POV, Al's POV and some more from Scorpius's POV. I'd love to know if there was anybody who you'd particularly like to see a little bit of a chapter in their POV? I don't think I'll do another whole chapter like this though. <strong>

**Anyway, I'd love a little insight into your thoughts from the little box below? Did you like the wedding? I've never written one before, so I hope you did!  
><strong>

**Thanks for taking the time to read! I love you all! **


	16. Going In To The New Year

**Hey everybody. I hope you like this chapter. I wrote it very long. Knowing me, I would have originally posted this as two chapters but I think it's better as one. So I hope you like it. I hope the developments aren't too quick for you and if they seem a little unlikely, don't worry, I'm going to follow this chapter up with something that, hopefully, will make the conclusion of this chapter less 'that was easy'. I'm probably making no sense to you all, so I hope you understand when you read the chapter and if you don't I hope you like the chapter anyway! I quite like this one. It's my longest chapter yet (yay!).**

**Thank you so much for reading! **

**Enjoy.**

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><p><em>Rose's POV<em>

I remembered the cake fight vividly; party because it was _so_ like Teddy and Victoire to act like children and do that, and partly because that was when I'd realised how much fun I'd had this holiday, compared to other occasions.

At first I thought I could convince myself that it was simply because everybody had been waiting for Teddy and Victoire to get their act together and finally _get _together for so long that once it actually happened and they were getting married, their wedding would be so happy and enjoyable that I'd simply been thinking about that all holiday. Then I'd almost been hit straight in the face with a plateful of wedding cake by Al, who had been hiding behind an upturned table a few metres across the marquee from the table that I was hiding under, and, as stupid as this may sound, I naturally told myself to stop lying to myself when I was in a battlefield and could "die" any moment. This then resulted in telling myself that _Scorpius_ had been the reason why I'd had so much fun this holiday.

_Great,_ I thought sarcastically and lobbed a handful of cake in Scor's mouth in sheer annoyance whilst he hid beside me. Of course he complained at that, seeing as how we were supposed to be on the same '_team'_ and plot strategies as to how to successfully run the hundred or so metres to the Burrow _without_ getting taken down by pink and purple wedding cake.

Somehow, (and at some point) during that confusing half hour where even the adults joined in with the cake fight (yes, including both my parents and Uncle Harry who were, rather suspiciously, experts in the cake-throwing department), I managed to lose Scorpius and I hadn't seen him since.

Don't get me wrong, I hadn't thought that he'd been kidnapped or anything, I just hadn't had a proper moment alone with him since the wedding.

I mean, we were only messing around with our relationship and whatnot so I wasn't really bothered that we hadn't been able to have that last kiss, or anything.

Honestly.

I wasn't bothered.

Well, maybe a little.

But just a little.

It didn't matter anyway; we were back at Hogwarts now and had agreed to go back to professional Head Boy and Girl duties and then just best friends the other ninety-nine percent of the time.

I realised that I hadn't spoken to Angie for a full three minutes and had simply been staring at her, relatively rudely, straight in the eye whilst she spoke.

I blinked at her from across the seats in our compartment on the Hogwarts Express and mumbled, "yeah, of course," when she paused in her story for breath. That was all the encouragement she needed to launch into more details about some guy she'd met at the wedding.

The rest of my cousins were being noisy, as usual: Dom and Louis had taken to a game of Exploding Snap, _again,_ which Dom was easily winning and which Louis was voicing his slightly above _PG-13_ opinions to very loudly; Al and Alice were sitting in the corner furthest from me and were reading, or rather _making fun of_ the first book they'd found in my trunk, Alice sitting comfortably on Al's lap; most of my other cousins were debating whether Teddy and Victoire were going to be having children anytime soon, which apparently needed at lot of noise to do; and the rest of my cousins or friends, including Scorpius who had been forced to squeeze next to me on the seat, trying not to touch my bare skin as we both wore short sleeved shirts, were either joking around or trying to finish some last minute homework.

Scorpius was working hard on the latter and, as I looked down to see what he was writing, he made eye contact with me and asked, "Hey, Rose," – I noticed the use of my proper first name and not my nickname 'Rosie', which I secretly loved – "What do you know about Illegal Dragon Fighting in the 1800's?"

It was the first thing he'd said to me since the cake fight yesterday, which meant the first thing since we'd_... parted_.

"Everything," Louis commented for me, apparently bored with losing so many games to his big sister.

"How would _you_ know?" Roxanne interrupted. "You're not even in her History of Magic class."

"'Cause she knows practically everything," Lucy joined in, taking Louis side.

"Actually, I _don't know_ why Scorpius is only doing his homework _now_ when he's had loads of free time all holiday?" I directed the question at him.

"I... well, I..." most of those who had been talking about Teddy and Victoire got bored and joined our conversation, listening intently for something they could comment against. Scorpius looked at me carefully and said clearly, "I was _occupied_ a lot of the time."

It didn't take being a genius for me to figure out what he meant.

I blushed involuntarily and tried to return my face to normal colour quickly.

If I was being perfectly honest with myself, I _missed_ those private moments with Scorpius. They were fun and I could just be myself with him.

We made eye contact again, and I could see that he was thinking about something very similar.

"Wasn't there some sort of argument where the Muggles almost found out about it, or something?" Al asked me vaguely.

I nodded. "You know what; Hugo has my book on it. I'll go track it down if you want, Scor."

Scorpius violently scribbled out a line in his essay. "Thanks, Rose. That would be..." He didn't make eye contact this time, his voice trailed off. I assumed he wasn't going to finish his sentence.

Standing up and walking to the door, I mumbled. "I've got to find him first,"

Just as the door was about to slam shut I heard Scorpius mumble, "Thanks."

I quickly realised that Hugo would be with Tom, Chris and a lot of girls in his year. Having figured that much out I now realised that I had no idea where on the train he was.

I made more sense for him to be in a compartment near to the front, probably far away from the rest of us, because that's where his year usually chose to sit and it would be one of the first compartments to get the food cart.

I headed down the train quickly, looking in every compartment as I went, just in case.

It took me almost twenty minutes to find Hugo's compartment, mostly because of all the students in the corridors who were still tracking people down to ask about their holidays. It _was_ near the front of the train and was almost as full as the one I'd come from, mostly full of girls. Hugo sat in between two blondes who were having an animated discussion about their charms homework.

I pushed open the compartment door as every eye turned to look at me.

"Hey, Hugo," I greeted him quickly, getting to the point so that I could get away from the stares of people I did not know and rush back to my own compartment to change into my robes. "Do you have that book that I lent you on Dragon Fighting?"

"Err," he bit his lip. I put my hands on my hips, glaring.

"_Please _do not tell me you've forgotten it?"

"No, no," he quickly explained. "I just can't remember if I put it in my trunk or not..."

"Well, can you look please?" I asked impatiently.

He sighed, clearly annoyed, as he reached up behind him to get his trunk. "I don't know why it would matter anyway, you did your essay on it ages ago, remember?"

"I remember," I replied. He spent the whole time I was trying to write my essay at the end of term talking to me about Quidditch and trying to get me to teach him something about advanced Potions so that he could look good in class. "It's not for me. Scorpius needs it."

"Oh, right," Hugo replied simply as he rummaged between his badly-packed trunk.

I sighed loudly to show that he was being slow and to annoy him and then looked out the window. "Merlin!" I exclaimed. "It got dark quick; we must be near Dufftown already."

_I'd better hurry if I wanted to make it back in time to get changed before we arrived at Hogsmeade._

"Here's your book," Hugo mumbled to me whilst shoving the old red book into my hands and replacing his trunk.

"Thanks, Hugh," I grinned at my little brother as he rolled his eyes.

"Rose?" Scorpius had appeared behind me at the door to the compartment. "There you are. Everyone was wondering where you'd gotten to."

"I couldn't find Hugo," I explained. "Plus, he's really slow."

"I'm an injured man," he complained to Scorpius whilst the compartment laughed.

"You got hit in the eye with a plastic groom," Scorpius commented. And, indeed, Hugo _did_ have a black eye.

"Okay, okay," I raised my voice over the doubled laughter in the room. "Let's go, Scor."

We let Hugo to tell the story of the wedding cake fight to his friends and made our way down the train. The compartment blinds were shut on all but the few that had nobody in because everybody had started to get changed into their robes.

It took us each three steps to realise that we were pretty alone.

I turned to look at Scorpius as he walked along beside me.

He was wearing a pair of black jeans that Al had bought him for his last birthday and a black tour shirt from an old Muggle band under his leather jacket. He looked good.

I grinned at him.

"What?" He asked softly as our walking slowed subconsciously. He grinned back at me.

"Nothing," I replied. "You just look nice today."

His smile widened. "You too."

I blushed, like always. "Thanks."

After another moment he surprised me by sighing loudly out of frustration.

"What's wrong?" I asked, genuinely concerned. _Did I do something wrong? Did I say something stupid?_

He stopped walking, I did too. "Come here," he took me by the arm and pulled me into an empty carriage about halfway down the train, closing the blinds quickly as I placed the book Hugo had handed me on one of the seats.

It was strangely quiet, but he still cast a _'Muffliato'_ spell anyway, and then turned to look at me through the semi-darkness. I had been right – it was dark now, only the moon and starts let us see without turning the light on in the carriage. Neither of us felt the need to do this.

"What... what's wrong?" I asked, and even I heard the hurt in my quiet voice that I wasn't expecting.

Any moment now I expected him to finalise the end of our relationship.

His face softened automatically, and he stepped towards me, placing his hands either side of my shoulders. "Nothing's wrong, really, Rose. I just... We shouldn't be saying things like that to each other."

I nodded. He was right. No more telling each other they looked nice, no more unnecessary closeness – nothing like that. It was bad for us.

"We agreed that we'd stop. We're only friends, right?" He continued. "I think we should just try to stop saying things like that. It doesn't mean that there's anything between us, obviously. But it gives off the wrong message to other people, right?"

I waited for two heartbeats before replying. "Absolutely."

"So... we're agreed on what we agreed on before?" He asked cautiously. "That there was to be no more snogging once we got to Hogwarts."

I nodded, although it took me a moment to force myself to do it. _Which was strange, because I did agree with him... Didn't I?_ "Agreed."

Scorpius seemed to look torn for a moment, and then he appeared to give up against something and turned towards the door with an uncertain, "Right..."

"Although..." I couldn't believe what I was saying, but my mouth moved on its own. He spun around to face me, curious. "We're not _technically _back at Hogwarts yet, so—"

I didn't even need to finish my sentence. Scorpius only had to take one step to enter my bubble and then his hands clasped around my neck so fiercely and firmly that it was only natural that I responded with as much enthusiasm.

I _had _missed him. It had only been a day, but I really had missed the lingering looks we shared and the many times he accidentally brushed his hand over my skin and his lips on mine. We'd been careful to leave distance between us since then, and I hated doing it.

I may have responded with a little too much enthusiasm as he actually had to take two steps back from the force that I threw my body at him with, ending up being wedged between me and one wall of the compartment.

"Sorry," I mumbled, but he cut off my apology, moving round so that I was the one wedged between him and the wall.

"Not now," he breathed shortly before catching my lips again and we found ourselves, again, having some alone time in a dark compartment of the Hogwarts Express.

_Oops._

* * *

><p>We made it back in time to the compartment for us to change into our robes and hurry after the others to the carriages that took us up to Hogwarts.<p>

Luckily, nobody asked where we were, what had taken us so long or what we had been doing all that time. That didn't make me feel any better though, it was only a matter of time...

Scorpius sat at the Slytherin table for the welcome back feast, preferring to join his housemates and catch up on their holidays. I was pretty sure that they were also plotting new strategies for Quidditch.

The rest of my family, except Louis, who went and joined his Ravenclaw housemates, sat together and chatted noisily, returning back to the conversation about how long it would be before Teddy and Victoire had children. Fred thought it would be less that a year, whereas Molly said that she was _certain_ that it would be at least another three years so that they could both get their career sorted out first.

Knowing Teddy and Tory as well as I did, I could safely say that _work_ was definitely _not_ the first thing on their minds, having just married and gone on a honeymoon to the Bahamas.

Soon enough, Daisy Longbottom made her way over to us. Being only a small third year she was not as intimidated by a bunch of older years as you may think, and joined our conversation, asking about our holidays.

She had amazingly straight, long, hazel hair that fell to her waist with one stray strand of platinum blonde hair sweeping over her right eye that had been present since she was born. Her eyes, a beautiful, startling blue like her mothers, were warm and friendly.

"So, are you all planning on going to the New Years Party?" She asked happily as she started on a piece of melon.

"Of course," Fred, Al and Hugo grinned mischievously at one another. _Uh oh._

"I'm so happy I can go this year," Daisy gushed. Third years were the youngest allowed at the party. The older years in Hogwarts may be irresponsible by throwing a party whenever they got the chance, but we could still be sensible when it came to the younger years at parties. Sometimes, they just got out of hand and were _not_ suitable for the youngsters.

"Make sure you bring a bodyguard," Angie suggested. "Sometimes the guys get a little out of hand and feel like snogging the first girl they can find."

"That won't happen to me though," Daisy seemed genuinely unfazed.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because I'm not _that_ pretty," she said it like it was obvious.

"Daisy," Al looked at her. "You're easily one of the prettiest in your year."

She blushed and almost dropped her cup like a proper Longbottom – We all knew that she had a thing for Al.

"Anyway," I diverted attention from her. "Where's the party this year and when is it?"

"Room of Requirement, obviously, and it's tomorrow night, around eight."

"Great," I beamed. Maybe I could get some time alone with Scorpius... I was so confused now. We weren't supposed to still be doing what we were doing, but we were. So, was it just the once on the train or were we still meeting up at Hogwarts now?

"Why so optimistic, Rose?" Roxanne asked, raising her eyebrows.

"She _needs _to snog a guy this term," Angie spoke up for me. Hugo and Al promptly spat out whatever they were eating or drinking.

"She _what_?" They exclaimed protectively at the same time.

"I what?"

"Oh, shut up, you two," Lily scolded them both before turning to me. "Angie is right, Ro. You _need_ a guy."

"I..." And immediately, I came up with a lie. Kind of. "I'm sort of seeing somebody."

The incredulousness was etched all over their faces.

"I'm not sure, though..." I mumbled, wishing I could take it back suddenly.

"Well, if you're not sure then it's not certain, Rose," Lucy told me.

"Yeah," Angie agreed, teaming up against me. "Which means that if you _were_ to kiss anyone else... it wouldn't matter..."

"Why would I be kissing somebody else?" I asked, blushing from the topic. I wasn't good talking about my personal life with my family.

"Because we'll be playing Truth or Kiss," Angie said in a '_duh'_ kind of way.

"Is that even a thing?" I argued as an all too familiar body sat down next to me and stole a few of my chips. I swatted his hand away and he pretended to look hurt, before grinning at me.

Angie gave me a '_don't you know anything?'_ look as Scorpius asked, "What's not a thing?"

"Truth or Kiss," Angie informed him.

Scor groaned, jokingly banging his head against the table. "After what happened at Christmas, I'm never playing a game like that again."

We all laughed whist Molly filled Daisy in on our traditional game of Truth or Dare at Christmas.

"So what do you think, Malfoy?" Roxanne asked.

"About Rose kissing some random guy?" He asked her, clarifying what she was saying. She nodded as we all stood up and began walking out of the hall. His reply was just to shrug his shoulders and join a group of Seventh Year Slytherin boys who were just leaving and heading down towards the Dungeons.

I wasn't sure, but it seemed as if he was avoiding answering the question.

"Come on," I sighed, dragging Lily faster out of the Entrance Hall and up the staircase. "Let's go, we've got lessons tomorrow."

"Great," she mumbled sarcastically. "Lessons... before the New Years' even begun."

"Remind me again why we're back at Hogwarts so early?" Fred grumbled as he tripped over the trick step in front of him and almost ended up sprawled across the staircase full of rowdy students.

"You know what?" Roxanne sounded annoyed and tired. "I wish we could just have partied it up with Ted instead."

"What, like the time two years ago when he ended up being chased out the back door of the Burrow and across the fields by those two identical twins?" I asked.

"Yeah," Al laughed. "That was hilarious."

"He didn't even make it to the back fence before they turned him into a mushroom," Lucy commented.

"What, an _actual_ mushroom?" Scorpius skidded to a halt beside me and Lily as we headed up a flight of stairs towards the Gryffindor Common Room.

"What are you doing?" I sighed, ignoring his question completely. "Your common room is the _other_ way."

"I, err..." Everybody was looking at him now, wondering what he was doing walking with us towards our common room late in the evening when he should really, as Head Boy, be directing his own house into their common room. "I wan—needed to talk to you... about rounds for this term and everything..."

It was amusing to watch Scorpius squirm because he never really did that in front of people. I had to laugh, "Alright, see you guys in a minute."

I left my cousins to follow the growing crowds of Gryffindor's, many of whom stared at Scorpius, wondering what he was doing right up by our common room.

As the crowds of people surging forwards increased and pushed against us I lost my footing and tripped. Luckily for me Scorpius was used to my clumsiness and his arms shot out quickly to catch me before my head even had a chance to smack into the floor. To save me from falling again and being trampled by eager and rowdy Gryffindor students of all ages, Scorpius took my hand and pushed through the crowds until we found our way through and into a spare classroom, laughing.

I took a few deep breaths as I sat on the desk closest to the door. "Merlin, I hate students in a hurry."

"Agreed," Scorpius grinned as I looked up and into his eyes.

"So..." I started. "What was it you wanted to talk about?"

He opened his mouth to answer my question but before he could I spoke over him. Suddenly, I couldn't handle him telling me that we had to stop. I honestly _liked _Scorpius. He was interesting and much more fun than any other guy I'd even _thought_ about dating.

"I was thinking that the rounds schedule from last term was pretty good actually," I began. I was rambling, I knew it, but I carried on, hoping to distract him from telling me that we had to stop seeing each other, because I knew that he would be indifferent to me by the end of tomorrow. I wouldn't get over the rejection from a relationship that quickly. "I mean, it worked well and nobody was complaining about having to do rounds with their partner, except that _Tara,_ who, by the way, I do _not_ like. And, no, it's not because she's pretty because, _hello_, she isn't really that pretty. Lily is prettier than she is! Well, Lily's prettier than probably just about everyone _at_ Hogwarts but—"

"Rose!" Scorpius smirked at me as he stepped forwards and placed his hands around my waist. "Stop talking. Merlin, it's driving me crazy."

He leaned forwards to kiss me but I turned my face away. I was assuming that meant that he wasn't "breaking up" with me?

"What?"

"Now that we're back at Hogwarts, we need to set some rules."

_If he thought we shouldn't be together, he'd correct me._

"So... I take it that we're going to carry on with this..."

"If you want to," I let him decide. He grinned in reply. "So we need some rules."

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Of course we do..."

"Seriously, Scor, there's a lot more people here to catch us."

"I know," he came and sat beside me on the desk. "Including teachers," he teased.

"Teachers?" I must have looked completely shocked at the thought of being caught by a teacher doing something, _anything_, against the rules because Scorpius laughed his _real_ laugh (not that fake '_I'm-so-popular'_ laugh that he did around the other Slytherins) and ruffled my hair.

"Relax, Rose," he grinned. "The worst they can do is give us detention."

"_Detention_?" I managed to squeak out.

"Yeah," he agreed, lifting his right leg behind him and over the desk and turning to face me side-on. "But it's _totally_ worth it."

I smirked back at him as he bent to kiss me gently on the lips. He tried to pull away after a moment but I moved my arms around his neck and kissed him back more forcefully and pulled him closer. By the way his lips hesitated I could tell that he was confused by my actions, but after a moment he responded readily and pulled his arms around my waist.

"You know..." I whispered softly to him after a few minutes, arms still around his neck. "This would really be perfect if we weren't... you know, us."

"What do you mean?"

"Malfoy and Weasley, Slytherin and Gryffindor—"

"Don't speak like that," he breathed, sounding hurt all of a sudden.

"Why not? It's true."

"Yeah, but it's also kind of sad."

"Sad?" I asked.

"Yeah," he leaned away from me. "If we were just two ordinary people from families that didn't have a history of hating each other we could be..." He avoided my eyes. "A couple... publically. I could send you flowers or we could hold hands in lessons."

"You..." I tried to form words but it took me a second. "You want us to be a couple?"

_How did we go from denying any feelings for each other to suddenly talking about a proper relationship?_

Scorpius' eyes looked from the floor, to the door and then they connected with mine. In one quick breath he breathed, "Yes."

"You..." I was still stuck on the first point. "But why? Why would you want us to?"

"It's hard pretending, Rose," he sighed, lacing his hand through mine.

"But we'd still have to pretend, we'd only be an official couple between us," I pointed out.

"Are you particularly opposed to that?" He asked slowly.

"Are you... are you asking if I think we should be a couple?" I answered vaguely. If he wanted to ask me to be his official girlfriend, he'd have to _ask_.

Frankly, the whole situation was weird. Scorpius _Malfoy _asking me, Rose _Weasley,_ to be his girlfriend.

"I—"

The door swung open and we both jumped, turning from each other to see who was there.

"Oops, sorry," It was Kelly, the girl from the Christmas Party. She looked apologetic for a split second until she saw who it was she was apologising to, and then her expression changed. "Oh, please don't give me detention. I was just heading back to my common room..."

Scorpius and I shared amused looks. Neither of us had any inclination to give her detention, so long as she didn't notice how quite so close we were sitting or how our hands were casually intertwined.

"Don't worry, Kelly," I smiled at her. "We won't give you detention."

She audibly exhaled. "Thank God!"

Only then did she blink and properly notice us. Scorpius shuffled as far away from me as he could get and I stood up. "Okay, so... I'm going to go."

I quickly headed for the door, not turning to look at Scorpius in case my expression gave something away.

I didn't know what to think anymore. We were friends, and then we were more than friends, then we weren't _supposed_ to be more than friends but we were and now... what?

The main question was: Did Scorpius like me? _Was that why he was sort of asking me to be his girlfriend?_

I had to bite down on my bottom lip to stop from actually screaming out loud as I hurried down the corridor back towards Gryffindor Tower. _What did I do?_ It wasn't long before I heard loud, echoing footsteps behind me. I knew it was him before he caught up with me and stepped right in front of where I was going.

"Rose, we haven't done talking."

I sighed, "I thought not."

There was silence between us for a moment, neither of us knowing what to say. We just stood in the middle of the freezing Hogwarts corridor until Scorpius spoke. "I've freaked you out, haven't I?" He looked scared, like he thought that he'd pushed me too much.

I loved it when he worried like that – he looked so cute.

I smiled weakly at him to show that I wasn't going to freak out about this as his hand came up to brush some of my hair away from my face.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, okay?"

He nodded. "Okay, sure."

I turned to head through the portrait of the Fat Lady but he grabbed my arm. "Rose... There's no pressure on what you say... I just wanted you to know how I felt... what I wanted..."

I nodded instead of speaking, leaving Scorpius outside the portrait hole, and hurried past the almost empty common room and up to bed.

Sure, Scorpius wanted us to be a couple, he'd _said_... but he hadn't actually told me how he _felt_.

I knew before I entered my dorm that the other girls were still awake. They really should have gone to bed a while ago. It was getting late and we had school tomorrow. _Did I have to be the only sensible one around here?_

I stormed through the door, suddenly angry. _Why did Scorpius have to speak so cryptically? Why did my friends and family have to be so prejudice that I had to be so secret about Scorpius? Why did Alice have to know before me that I had a sort of thing for Scorpius?_

The whole thing was a mess.

"What's up, Rose?" Angie looked over at me as she climbed into bed.

"Nothing," I sighed.

"Niomi and I saw you wandering off with Scorpius earlier—" Polly started, apparently unable to hold it in, but she was promptly shut up by a large fluffy pillow to the face.

"Smooth, Pol," Niomi scolded her.

"Yeah..." I decided to go with the whole '_I'm-not-in-love-with-Scorpius'_ ploy. After all, I'd been _so_ good at it up till Christmas. "We had to discuss the Prefects rounds for this term."

"Oh right," Dom joined the conversation as she stepped out of the bathroom. "Did you change much? 'Cause you know that Al will want to know if you have rounds when he's scheduled Quidditch."

"No, nothing," I informed her as I climbed into bed.

"You were gone an awful long time for you two to just come up with the same idea as before..." Polly commented.

"I..." I didn't have an answer for that.

"Rose..." Dom started. "Tell me truthfully, have you kissed Scorpius Malfoy?"

I think my heart stopped.

"N-No," I argued. It was a terrible lie.

"Even _we_ know you're lying," Niomi laughed, indicating herself and Polly. "And we hardly see you."

"Oh, my..." Dom trailed off, staring open-mouthed at me. Judging by her next tone of voice, she hadn't been serious before, but she was now. "_Have_ you kissed Malfoy?"

"Merlin, Ron will _freak_," Angie added.

"No!" I yelled a little too loudly. "I mean, at Christmas he kissed almost all of us..."

That was my only defence. I admit, it was pretty poor, but, _never in a million years_, did I expect them to buy it.

"Oh right," She seemed disappointed.

"I thought you meant..."

"Can we just sleep now?" I asked them.

They all agreed quickly, probably reluctant to anger me, and Dom turned off the light as she found her own bed. After a few seconds of silence I mumbled into the dark, "Why does it always have to be _my _personal life that we discuss?"

* * *

><p>The first lesson I had the next morning was double Potions with the Slytherins. The bad news was that I sat on a table next to Scorpius and I knew that he'd be staring at me every few seconds, probably scared that I'd run out the room and avoid him so that I didn't give him an answer to our confused relationship. The good news was... well, it wasn't raining as much as the night before... if that counted as good news.<p>

Scorpius and Al weren't in the room yet when Angie and I arrived and took our seats. I quickly noted down the title of our next Potion – _Deflating Draught._

I barely listened to what Angie was saying about her outfit for the party tonight as I waited for the lesson to begin. It seemed to take an immensely long time for Professor Roberts to _finally_ enter the room, and still even longer for him to find some chalk and write the date on the board. Strangely, this same length of time was how long it took Scorpius and Al to enter the room too. _I think I was seeing things in slow motion..._

They were laughing about something as they sat down on our table and shoved their bags under their seats. Scorpius caught my eye and winked at me before, unusually, listening to the teacher. He apologised for being late so smoothly and it sounded so sincere that Professor Roberts believed that he _was_ sorry before continuing the lesson.

It turned out that there had been an accident at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Hogsmeade (something that Uncle George had neglected to tell us, probably because we'd tell his mum for the entertainment of watching him being told off) and they were desperately in need of a Deflating Draught. It didn't sound too good. Apparently, Professor Roberts had volunteered us, his older, more advanced students, to make that potion because he hadn't bothered to think of something for us to do this term. He didn't phrase his sentences like that, but we all understood perfectly well what he meant.

As soon as the class was set loose to the ingredients cupboard I told Angie to start the cauldron on simmer and headed off to collect a few of our ingredients. Deflating Draughts did not take that long to make but they were particularly tricky to master if you didn't follow the instructions carefully. Luckily, I'd made it a fair few times since being at Hogwarts so I knew exactly what I was doing.

The rest of the class were still rummaging around in their school bags to find their Advanced Potions Making books or hadn't even realised that Professor Roberts had even spoken to them by the time I had crossed the room and disappeared into the ingredients cupboard.

It only took a few seconds for Scorpius to join me. I was on my hands and knees, rummaging around in a box that had been stacked under a few jars of Lacewing Flies, trying to retrieve some caterpillars to chop up. Scorpius stood behind me, reaching over so that he could grab a box of dead spiders to add to his potion. I stood up without realising just how close to me he was standing and ended up wedged between him and the shelf.

_Why did I always find myself in situations like this?_

"Oops, sorry..." I laughed nervously whilst he smirked back at me.

"No problem," he breathed. "Have you decided yet?"

"Ermm..." I didn't know what to say but I was saved when Eric Norman stumbled into the room, tripping over another box of ingredients that had been left on the floor.

Scorpius and I rushed over to help him up.

"Thanks," he sounded out of breathe as he took Scorpius' offered hand and I collected the book he had dropped.

I handed it back to him once he was standing back on his feet. Eric thanked us both, looking at little surprised at our generosity, and continued on with looking for his ingredients.

I left Scorpius and Eric to find what they were looking for and returned back to Angie and Al, who were having a competition, seeing which of them could levitate their cauldron the most without the boiling water inside of it from overflowing.

"Ang!" I reprimanded her as I dumped the armfuls of ingredients I had on the table.

"Sorry," She grinned at Al. "Al's a bad influence. He was encouraging me."

I shook my head. They really were like mischievous twins most of the time. "Al, please try not to corrupt my only sane best friend as well as the one you've already corrupted by dating."

"I'll try," he smirked. "But I can't promise anything."

"That's alright, Al," Scorpius called as he waded across the roomful of, now thoroughly awake, students. His tone suggested extreme sarcasm. "I'll just do it all by myself."

As he reached our table he tripped over Al's schoolbag, which he'd left lying in the middle of the isle, and his ingredients went flying all over our table, Angie and me. Al caught Scorpius and steadied him whilst Angie complained that she had just been assaulted by caterpillars. I stood there frozen.

After a few moments when they had all steadied themselves, Angie realised I'd hardly breathed. "Rose? Are you alright?"

"S-sp... spiders..." I managed to breathe.

"Uh oh..." Al knew I hated spiders, even if they were dead.

"Rose... Rose, talk to me," Angie waved her hand in front of my face as I stared at the cauldron. Any second now and I would freak out. There were _spiders_ on me.

"Angie..."

"Yeah?" She answered quickly.

"Get. Them. Off," I breathed through my nose. "Now."

"Eww," She took two quick steps backwards. Even if she wasn't afraid of spiders, she didn't want to touch them.

"Okay, okay," Scorpius stepped round the table. "Calm down you two: Angie, stop being a baby and get back over here; Rose, breathe. I'll get them off, one second."

"Okay..." I managed to whisper quietly.

He quickly brushed down the side of my robes so that the dead spiders fell onto the floor.

"There's a few in your hair," he told me calmly.

"My... my _hair?_" I swear I almost passed out.

"Breathe, breathe, Rosie," he told me patiently as he carefully pulled the spiders out of my hair, one by one, careful not to pull out any strands of hair.

Once he had pulled out the last spider I immediately jumped away from the space where I had been standing and the spot where all the dead spiders were lying on the floor.

"Oh, Merlin!" I squealed girlishly. "Is that one _alive?"_

I clutched Scorpius' arm as I placed him between the spiders and myself.

"Al!" I almost yelled at my cousin. "Get rid of it!"

"Alright, alright," he mumbled in annoyance. "You're such a girl when it comes to spiders, Rose."

"Just... just get rid of it, Al," I snapped at him.

My favourite cousin reluctantly scooped the huge spider up off the floor and took it to the window, throwing it outside and into the sleet and extreme levels of wind that had picked up dramatically since we'd entered the room.

_Great,_ I had Herbology next.

"Alright, Rosie," Scorpius chuckled, turning towards me as I still gripped his arm. "You can let go now, they're gone."

"Are... are you sure?" I asked, peering over his shoulder to check. Al had cleaned up the dead spiders on the floor too.

"Yes," he laughed, pulling me back over to the table.

"Thank _Merlin,_" Angie exclaimed as she joined me back at the table. "Anyway, where were we with this potion?"

We set to work, this time getting on with our task without being showered in spiders, except for the one time a few minutes towards the end of the lesson when Al and Scorpius thought that it would be funny to levitate a few dead spiders over our heads.

Angie and I responded by flicking bubotuber pus in their direction. Preferring not to smell of petrol for the rest of the week, they let us alone after that.

After morning lessons we were all glad to get an hour of lunch to ourselves. Throwing ourselves into seats at the Gryffindor table, Scorpius included, none of us spoke for a moment, preferring to drape lazily across the table. We weren't used to lessons after our relaxing holiday quite yet.

"So..." Scorpius mumbled as he sat up straighter, the rest of us doing so too. "I didn't know that you were afraid of spiders."

"Shut up," I mumbled to him. "Mr Oh-My-Gosh-It's-A-Hippogriff."

They all laughed. "You're afraid of Hippogriffs?" Roxanne asked sceptically.

"They follow you with their eyes..." Scorpius mumbled, looking at the table.

"Alright everybody," Lily announced. "Settle down, no more teasing. There's a party tonight so why aren't we discussing that?"

"Good point, sis," Al grinned at her from across the table.

"Tara's probably skipping afternoon lessons so that she can slap on a few layers of make-up," Lucy commented.

"A few?" Scor and I asked at the same time.

"Yeah, more like a dozen," Fred agreed.

"She's gonna try to jump you tonight, Scor," Lily warned him.

"What?" His face snapped round to look at my cousin as everyone stared at them or laughed. "Why?"

"Because you are rich and handsome whilst she is vain and egotistical," I reminded him.

"Aren't I all four of those things?" Scorpius smirked.

"Good point," I agreed.

"Hey! You're supposed to contradict me," he complained.

"Oh, what a great friend you are," Al muttered sarcastically.

"At least I remembered to buy you a Christmas present," he countered and Al turned bright red. "Just so you know, Al, my birthday is February 14th."

"Valentine's Day," Molly stated.

"Yep," Scorpius smirked.

"How..." I tried to find the right word.

"Fitting," Lily supplied for me.

"Thanks," he grinned at us both.

"Okay, let's go, that was the bell and we've got Defence Against the Dark Arts next," Alice reminded those of us that were in her class.

The afternoon lessons were particularly enjoyable and there was a fight in the middle of the corridors on the way to Ancient Runes, which livened the day up a little. Apparently two guys had been arguing over which one of them was taking Ashley Wright, a fifth year, to the party tonight.

Once I got back to my dorm with Alice, Dom and Angie at half six, after dinner, we immediately started to take turns in showering before Niomi and Polly got back. I was just leaving the bathroom once our remaining roommates arrived, giggling hysterically.

Polly rushed into the bathroom before Niomi, complaining that it would take her longer to dry her hair so she deserved a head start over her best friend. Niomi started rummaging through all our open cupboards, we all frequently borrowed clothes, for something that she looked '_hawt'_ in, as she had put it (and yes, she did spell it out for us).

I dried my hair and put it up in a loose bun, slipping on a red mini skirt that Alice and Dom were making me wear and a black _Hippogriff High _top. The top was my own and I had insisted that I got to choose at least one thing that I wore.

I sighed dramatically, slipping into some black heels that Alice was lending me, "Must I wear these?"

"Yes," Dom, Angie, Alice, Niomi and Polly all turned to me as they spoke at the same time.

Suddenly, everything clicked into place. "Are you _all_ trying to set me up with somebody?"

"We just want to make you look gorgeous," Dom defended them all.

"Because you're a gorgeous girl," Alice agreed.

"And you deserve to look hawt," Niomi supplied.

"So just go with it, Ro," Polly added.

"At least this once," Angie sided with them all.

They were ganging up on me, and it wasn't fair. But there were five of them and one of me so I had no choice.

A few minutes later, once I'd put on some make-up (not nearly as much as they tried to plaster on me) I looked in the mirror and was pleasantly surprised. I actually _felt _good, as well as _looking_ good. The look was girlish and obviously had that '_I'm going to a nightclub'_ look but the band t-shirt added an extra tomboy feature to it and it suited me rather well.

I was herded out of the door at exactly five minutes past eight (a compromise between Dom wanting to be '_fashionably late_' and Alice wanting to be at the Room of Requirement at exactly eight o'clock).

When the seven of us (Lily had joined us looking oh-so-gorgeous) arrived at the Room of Requirement the room was packed with people. It was probably half the size of the Great Hall and the ceiling and walls were draped in banners of all the Hogwarts houses and the Hogwarts emblem. Along the back wall were a number of tables full of Butterbeer, various alcoholic drinks and snacks for everybody to eat.

We headed for the drinks table first, I reached for a bottle of Butterbeer but Angie offered me a glass of Elderflower Wine. She was a good friend – I knew straight away with Angie that I didn't have to take the alcohol (even if it was the least strong one there was), but I did.

I decided that this was a party, so I sure as hell was going to have some fun.

We found the others nearby and all stood around in one large circle, drinking and chatting quietly for a while until Leah Jordan, a sixth year tomboy with the best sense of style and music taste, started DJ'ing.

Some of the other students joined us for a while, ranting about teachers they hated or gossiping about who had just broken up, but they eventually moved on to dance or find somebody else to talk to.

Al, Fred and Alice headed off to get more drinks and, not so suspiciously, only Fred came back. He handed everyone a shot of Firewhiskey and we all downed our glass quickly, followed by another four.

By this time (especially considering that Firewhiskey is extremely alcoholic) we were all a little tipsy, including me. Al and Alice reappeared in time for another round of Firewhiskey just as Leah played the song that was currently at the top of the charts. It was very catchy and upbeat, even if it _was_ a Christmas song, and we all knew the lyrics so, even in our drunken state, we took to the dance floor to dance along.

Fred, Scorpius and Al lined up and started dancing simultaneously with moves that looked like they belonged to women back-up dancers in the 1980s.

The rest of us laughed along until the mood was abruptly changed when a slow song started to play. Leah's voice came over the speaker, "Come on everybody, let's see how you really dance."

We all laughed and everybody either drifted off the dance floor or chose a partner. Al and Alice danced together, as did Fred and Louis, Lily and Sam and Dom and Hugo.

The rest of my family and friends headed off to get more drinks or find somebody else to dance with. Through all the people and loud noise of the music, Scorpius grabbed my hand and pulled me away from everybody and through a door to the side of the room. It led to a small, narrow corridor that turned sharply to the left and headed to the toilets.

Pulling me swiftly out of sight, Scorpius pulled me into the girls' toilets, which were thankfully empty, and into one of the stalls.

"You're going to get us caught," I giggled.

"We'll see," he smirked before locking the cubicle door and turning round to face me.

We stood in silence for a split second. He didn't move towards me like I thought he would. Instead, he looked me up and down and commented, "You look... amazing."

"Scorpius?" I whispered, causing his eyes to connect with mine.

"Yeah?" He looked puzzled as I stepped towards him.

"Shut up."

I crashed my lip onto his, pushing his body against the door as I did so. He seemed surprised again, maybe because I was supposed to be the responsible one yet this was the second time in just about twenty four hours that I'd responded to him like this. It took a few seconds for his lips to respond and for his arms to snake around my waist, pulling my body tighter to his.

I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I took advantage of the situation a little. Well, we both did.

Scorpius' hand came down to rest on my thigh, part of my leg that wasn't covered by my skirt, and my knee rose to lean against the cubicle door, meaning that I leaned more on Scorpius for balance as well.

Just as I was starting to wonder just how tipsy I was, the main door to the girl's toilet opened and a couple of sixth years wondered in, heading, by the sound of it, towards the mirror to re-apply their make-up.

"So he just walked right past her?" One girl was saying.

"Yeah, we couldn't believe it," The other replied.

"But I thought they were _'in love'_?"

"Apparently not," They both giggled.

Whilst they continued to talk about an unfortunate girl who was probably crying in a corridor somewhere by the sounds of it, Scorpius and I stood frozen besides each other.

We were trying our hardest not to burst into laughter at our situation whilst the two girls stood on the opposite side of the thin metal cubicle door, completely oblivious to us.

I couldn't hold my laughter in for that long and, unfortunately, a small burst of it escaped from between my lips. As quick as his Quidditch skills allowed, Scorpius' hand came up to cover my mouth as he tried to stop himself from laughing too.

It was too late. The girls by the mirror stopped chattering immediately.

"Is there somebody there?" One asked aloud, evidently aiming the question to us.

Scorpius and I bit down on our lips to stop from laughing again at our situation.

"Maybe we just heard it," The second girl commented. I couldn't help wondering how they hadn't seen our feet yet.

They obviously turned back to the mirror and carried on with their conversation and make-up applying.

"I'm gonna make a run for it," Scorpius grinned.

"They'll see you," I whispered back.

"They'll see a guy," he replied. "Not me."

I nodded and, as soon as one girl started up a conversation about how bright the lights were in the room, Scorpius unbolted the toilet door and ran out of the bathroom.

The girls stared after him and then, once it was obvious that he had gone, turned to stare at me as I stood in the doorway to the cubicle.

"Evening, ladies," I grinned, putting on an air of fake confidence, walking over to the mirror and fixing my hair as they stared at me.

They didn't say anything until I had fixed both my hair and make-up.

"Aren't you Head Girl?" The bossier one stuttered.

I turned to face them, running my hand through my hair nervously. "Yeah..."

"And... and should you really be snogging some guy in the girl's toilets?" The second one mumbled half-heartedly.

"Not really," I agreed. "But you won't tell, will you?"

"Of course not," The second, kinder, one agreed.

"But you—"

"Shut up, Kate."

"Thanks," I sighed with relief. "I promise I won't give you detention at all this term."

"Really?" They both smiled at the same time.

"As long as you don't tell," I clarified.

"Of course not," they agreed at the same time.

I left then, eager to get away from their awed stares. _What was so amazing about a girl who succeeded in love and academics?_

_Everything_, I suppose.

_'Succeed'_, _really, Rose?_

As soon as I stepped back into the main party room, I'd made my decision about my relationship with Scorpius.

Now all I had to do was find him, sneak away with him (again) and tell him.

Actually, it wasn't that hard. It turned out that both Fred and Roxanne had gotten so drunk that they needed somebody to take them back to their dormitory. That meant at least one guy, to carry Fred, and at least one person who belonged to Gryffindor house and therefore knew the password. Since Al and Hugo, the only who applied to both groups, managed to escape the punishment of having to carry two very drunk teenagers to their dorms and getting back again without getting caught by the teachers who patrolled (they knew that we were having a party tonight but they didn't know where), that left Scorpius and me. Which turned out to be ideal as well, because the teachers were less likely to give us detention if we pretended that we were patrolling (hopefully they wouldn't comment on our outfits).

We managed to haul the siblings to Gryffindor Tower, luckily it was on the same floor as the Room of Requirement, and get them into their dorms easily. The real trouble came when we had headed out of the common room and back to the party. We had walked roughly half the distance when the sound of Professor Roberts, Head of Slytherin House, and Professor Rubies, Head of Gryffindor House, neared us from around the corner. It may sound silly but getting caught out of hours for a party got you detention for two months and excluded you from any positions such as Quidditch or, yes, as Heads or Prefects (mainly because parties were supposed to be forbidden), whereas, if you were caught out of hours because you were meeting a boyfriend/girlfriend you would simply receive detention for six weeks cleaning the potions rooms (this was because the school knew that having mixed teenagers would obviously result in people getting together so they accepted it as an inevitable way of life).

That's why I didn't object when Scorpius caught me around the waist, spun me around to face him and started kissing me. Even though I knew that it would only be a second or two until the teachers turned the corner and we'd break apart, doing our best to look guilty, I still wanted it to look real... right?

So I kissed him back for a second or two until I heard Professor Rubies exclaim, "Excuse me!"

We turned to face them, both looking guilty and arms still around each other.

"Miss Weasley!"

"Mr Malfoy!"

"Oops..." I mumbled and made a show of stepping away from Scorpius.

"I expected more from the Heads," Professor Rubies exclaimed again.

"Sorry, Professor," we both mumbled.

"But..." Professor Roberts spoke. "Considering you're in different houses, I suppose it's to be expected that you'd be in the corridors."

We both recited 'sorry' again to the Professors.

"You know what this means, you two," Professor Rubies continued. "You're to be put in detention for six weeks cleaning the floors of Professor Roberts' room. Of course, considering your positions," – she scowled at us – "you will be let off some nights when rounds are important."

"Thank you, Professor," I mumbled quickly before we were dismissed and we hurried away.

"Well... that went better than I thought," Scorpius mumbled.

I laughed. "Yep. But you still got me detention! If my parents find out, I'll kill you, Scorpius Malfoy."

We entered the party again just in time to hear Leah calling over the sound system, "Get ready everybody, only thirty seconds till New Years. Find somebody to kiss, you lot."

"There you are!" Alice exclaimed when she saw us. "Quick, it's almost midnight!"

"Really?" I asked for the sake of it.

She nodded and turned back to Al for his attention. I made my decision about Scorpius.

I turned to him. "I want you to have all the facts as we go into New Years," I started, getting his attention quickly. I took a breath. _It's now or never._ "I... would like... very much, if we could go into the New Years... together."

"As a couple?" He whispered, grinning, surprised.

"Exactly," I agreed. "I would like to start to New Years with you, Scorpius Malfoy."

"And the rest of the year?" He asked hopefully. "Will you be with me for the rest of the year?"

I smirked at him. "I would love to."

"Alright then," he grinned. "Are you saying you would like to be my girlfriend?"

"That is exactly what I'm saying, genius," I mumbled to him.

"Good 'cause I need to tell you, Rose..." He started as everybody in the room started counting down.

"_Ten."_

"Yes?" I blinked up at him as he wrapped his arms around me. Nobody cared; they were too preoccupied with other people and trying to count backwards without forgetting their numbers and looking like an idiot.

"_Nine."_

"I..." he licked his lips.

"_Eight."_

"Yes?"

"_Seven."_

"I... really, truly love you."

"_Six."_

To be honest, I wasn't as shocked as I thought I would be. I think, subconsciously, I already knew.

"_Five."_

"Rose?" Scorpius looked apprehensive.

"_Four. Three."_

"Scorpius?" I replied after a moment, whispering.

"_Two."_

"Yeah?" He still looked scared of my answer. After all, he'd just told a Weasley he loved them. His dad would be _mad_ if he ever found out.

"_One."_

"Kiss me," I breathed seductively.

"_Happy New Years!"_

He smirked and kissed me much more than you would for a standard '_I'm-your-best-friend-and-welcome-to-the-New-Year'_ way, wrapping his arms securely around me and only releasing me after five seconds longer than normal.

He smirked at me again, "Hey, girlfriend."

I grinned, "My family are _so_ going to kill me if they find out."

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><p><strong>I know, I know. It's all happy... How wonderful.<strong>

**Hopefully you liked this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I really did quite like this chapter, even though I wasn't so keen on it at the beginning. I think I like the events, but not really my writing. I hope you still love my ScoRose. And I will be writing part of an upcoming chapter from Al's POV. Just as soon as I get the right moment to do it! **

**Thanks for reading! **

**I'd love Love LOVE a review if you could? **

**Thanks again you guys. I love you!**


	17. Progress

**I had hoped to put a longer, more interesting section from Al's POV but this chapter should link to the next one so I'm planning to put a longer Al/Alice scene in that. Anyway, I hope you like the Al's POV! :D**

**P.S. I'm sorry that I can't remember who it was, but thank you to whoever put that AVPM reference in their review about Rose! :D It made me laugh. Also, thank you to _everyone_ for being amazing and reading/reviewing this!**

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><p><strong>Al's POV<strong>

Everything had changed since last year.

Okay, so not _everything_, but you get what I mean, right?

For a start, I had Alice. And that was probably the most important thing. I know most guys would think it sad and uncool to spend almost every moment of the day with your girlfriend, and then those rare moments that we spend apart to be sulking and thinking of her, but I really loved Alice. I mean _really_ loved her.

She even puts up with my family, which is a feat in itself when you consider how many of them she hangs out with on a daily basis. And it's not that I don't love my family, because I do (no matter how often I drive them crazy), but I'd much rather spend my time talking to Alice.

_Oh Merlin, I was getting needy._

The only thing I had really missed since Alice became my girlfriend was making mischief. Although, I imagine that it would be the same with anybody. If Hugo had a girlfriend he'd miss Quidditch to spend time with her or if Lucy had a boyfriend she'd "_forget_" her plans with her friends or if Rose had a boyfriend she'd... well, she'd forget to do her homework.

The New Year party had been so hectic and crazy that _I_ forgot to do my History of Magic homework. Yeah, I was probably going to get detention _again_.

We had moved seats in History of Magic so that I now sat next to Alice and Rose. Next to Rose was Scorpius, who constantly liked to tease her, as he was doing now, and then Fred, Angela and Dom completed the line.

I shoved my bag under the desk and tried to sink low into my chair so that Professor Norton wouldn't see me as Scorpius caught my eye and grinned at me whilst Rose, her back to me, continued to lecture him on something that he clearly wasn't listening to.

"...because _that_ just means that you're destined for detention, and even you know that. Actually, _you _of all people should know that more than anybody because, let's face it, you can't go a day without doing something stupidly reckless—"

"—Hey! I don't do things stupidly restless very often..."

"Actually, Scor..." I interrupted. "You are a little careless."

"Like when?" he asked, genuinely confused.

"Like yesterday, when you told Tara that you'd '_talk to her later'_," even before I got the words out I saw Scor shaking his head furiously behind Rose's back.

Apparently he didn't want her to know that he'd spoken to Tara.

_Oops._

"Tara?" She questioned.

"So what if I told her that I'd talk to her later?" Scorpius complained. "I say it to everybody. She's not going to take it literally, is... is she?"

I nodded solemnly and joked, "I'll pray for you."

"Oh no," Scorpius sat down in his seat, burying his head in his hands.

"You deserve to be cornered by her and have to listen to exactly how long it took for her to get a manicure," Rose huffed.

"Alright, calm down," Scorpius grinned at her. "I'm pretty good at avoiding people around Hogwarts."

"You've had practise," Dom laughed as she entered the room and joined the conversation.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"All those girls grouping under the mistletoe in the corridors..." Alice joined in. "It happens every year to him, Al."

"It's such a horrible time..." Scorpius agreed, faking glumness.

"What about your birthday?" Dom asked. "Being on Valentine's Day and everything..."

"Yep, that's quite traumatic too."

"Everyone wants to give you a birthday kiss," Fred laughed.

"It's so _annoying_!" Scorpius pretended to slam his head on the table. As he sat up Rose whispered something in his ear and they both laughed.

I exchanged a confused, slightly suspicious look with Alice before changing the topic of conversation.

_I had a subconscious feeling that knowing whatever that action meant would not be good for me._

"So are you up for a New Years chat at the Astronomy Tower tonight?" I asked Scorpius. We hadn't had a proper conversation with just the two of us for a long time.

"Ermm..." he winced like he thought I was going to get incredibly angry. And I probably would have if I'd been in the same situation last year but I honestly didn't care this time. _I used to think the world revolved around me._

"Don't worry about it, Scor," I smiled at my best friend so that he knew I really _didn't_ care. "Have you got Quidditch practise or something?"

"Detention," he smirked. "Sorry, mate."

"Don't worry, I'll just hang with Alice," I turned to my girlfriend for confirmation.

"Actually, Al," she started sheepishly. "I've _really_ got to finish my Herbology essay before tomorrow and it's going to take me longer than lunch time to do."

"Oh," I think I must have looked a little lost. I turned to somebody that had never failed me before. "Rose?"

She hesitated.

"Not you too!" I complained. "You _can't _be behind on homework! You're... you're Rose Weasley!"

"No, no..." She bit on her lip but eventually, under my penetrating gaze, gave up. "I have detention."

The five of us, Alice, Fred, Dom, Angela and me, gasped in mock-horror.

"Since when?" Angie asked the loudest.

"How?" Dom joined her with the questions.

"Ask _him," _Rose complained, slapping Scorpius on the arm as he shook with silent laughter beside her.

"What?" Scorpius feigned mock confusion. "Me? Whatever did I do?"

She glared at him as Professor Norton entered the classroom and called the class to order.

"Now I know it's the New Year but I'm still expecting you to hand in your homework," Professor Norton began the class. I groaned.

_It was going to be a long day._

* * *

><p><strong>Rose's POV<strong>

"Stop it," I mumbled so quietly that the words hardly escaped my lips. "Stop it."

I tilted my head slightly to the left to see Alice's violet eyes staring straight at mine. I glared back at her instead of turning back to my work.

Her eyes darted to Scorpius, who sat slumped over his desk on the opposite side of me, actually doing some work for a change, and then back again to me. I continued to stare at her. I wasn't in the mood for playing her ridiculous games.

Al had been called by Professor Norton a few minutes into our set exercise of sixty questions in an hour, in complete silence, and had disappeared into the teachers office around twenty minutes ago and, at least for the first three, the only sound had been Professor Norton's irritated voice as he reprimanded Al for continuously forgetting to hand in his homework.

As a result, Alice had moved up a seat (after I'd refused to move instead of her) and she kept staring over at me, trying to silently bag my attention.

"Stop it," I snapped again, this time firmer than before and slightly louder than before. A few people sitting around me turned to glare at me in an '_I can't believe you just spoke'_ kind of way.

"Sorry," Alice mumbled back. There were a few relieving moments of silence when she finally turned away and seemed to be getting on with her work, but suddenly she turned back round and couldn't help but ask, "Sorry, but... detention?"

"What about it?" I whispered quietly and slowly, not bothering to look away from my work as I scribbled out a few words and wrote over the top of them.

"How long do you have it?" She probed.

I was hesitant to answer that because everybody knew what each duration of detention resulted from, they were so specific. "Six weeks of cleaning Professor Slughorn's Potions room."

"Six weeks?" Alice hissed, almost forgetting to keep her voice low.

"Sorry, can I just..." Scorpius evidently felt the need to join in with our conversation by squashing me as he leaned right over my side of the desk and placed his elbows on Alice's desk. "Rose got six weeks detention for making out with her boyfriend in the corridors."

"Scorpius!" I exclaimed as those sitting within a two seat radius of us turned again to stare, this time with curiosity in their eyes, all annoyance lost.

"Rose!" Alice reprimanded me, saving Scorpius from his third long lecture of the morning.

"Deal with it, Alice," I snapped. I'd had it with all her _'I can't believe you're dating in secret' _or _'I'm disappointed that you're not a goody two-shoes anymore'_ looks.

"Rose—," she started, evidently sensing she'd upset me. Ultimately, if I was upset or embarrassed I tended to turn that emotion into anger and wrongly yell at the nearest person.

"Just... just leave me alone, Alice," I grumbled. "I'm trying to work."

The other eavesdroppers in our conversation, such as the ones not Scorpius who thought that we weren't aware that they were listening to our conversation, got bored and turned back to their work.

"Rose," Scorpius was suddenly serious and his tone of voice, unusually so, made me listen. "You're not angry at Alice. You're annoyed at her for being so controlling, even though, in reality, she's only helping you out with sneaking around with your secret boyfriend. You're annoyed that you let yourself get slightly drunk last night and therefore have a headache. But, mainly, you're annoyed that _I've_ gotten you into this whole detention thing and your record of being a perfect student is slightly scarred."

"I..." I didn't really have an answer. "I'm not m... mad at—"

"I know you, Rose," He smirked in a way that only Scorpius Malfoy could smirk. "You're slightly... _slightly_ irritated at _me_."

_Maybe he _was_ right._

"So you should apologise to Alice because you're best friends and you'll be back to gossiping about what a pygmy puff _I_ am in the next few hours."

I grinned at him – He was so right.

I turned to Alice. She looked sheepishly at me. "I'm sorry Alice," I whispered quietly.

She didn't get a chance to reply because Professor Norton had started shouting again. The sound of his voice floated through the walls to the entire class but only one sentence could really be made out, "because nobody _really_ needs that much cotton candy, Albus..."

I glanced at Alice and she winked at me and grinned before turning back to her work.

* * *

><p>The rest of the ay passed normally but the highlight was probably when I got to spend the whole of Ancient Runes sitting next to Scorpius and holding his hand. We sat at the back of the classroom, only a handful of Hufflepuff's and a few Ravenclaw's had decided to continue with NEWT level Ancient Runes and they were all too occupied with their friends to pay us much attention.<p>

Our chairs were turned towards each other and, because our teacher had not yet arrived halfway into the lesson, we were currently having a quiet conversation with our heads bent low together whilst the rest of our class flew miniature aeroplanes or miniature Frisbees around the room.

"So then what happened?" Scorpius grinned excitedly.

"Well, obviously they got together in the end and everything was happy," I laughed. "Look, Scorpius, I've already spent the last twenty minutes telling you the detailed lives of _Ross _and_ Rachel_ and it can't even be _that_ interesting—"

"Hey!" He interrupted, tickling me childishly. "I _like_ Muggle television shows. My parents don't own a TV so I hardly get time to watch them. I like hearing about them."

I laughed again. "Seeing as I've been talking for ages, can I ask you a question?"

"As long as you don't expect an answer..." He smirked.

"Scor!" I mumbled pathetically.

"Okay, okay," He laughed again at my bad attempt at puppy-dog eyes. "You know I would answer you anything, Rose."

"Anything?"

"Anything," he confirmed seriously.

"Well, I'm going to use _that_ to my advantage later," I mumbled teasingly.

"Go on," he sighed. "What's your question?"

"Why do you like me?" I whispered, moving even closer to him so that my hair fell over my shoulder and almost touched his ears.

He smirked. "What are you talking about?"

"Seriously, Scor..."

"Seriously?" He questioned. I nodded as confirmation. I wanted an answer. "Seriously, because you're clever, like insanely clever... you're funny, you're _charming_, and you're beautiful..."

I blushed.

"Want me to keep going or is that enough reasons?" He smirked again and leaned in to kiss me.

I was so caught up in kissing him that I forgot that we were in a classroom in front of our fellow pupils and now thoroughly flaunting a secret relationship.

I wrapped my hands around his neck so he could pull me closer. Suddenly a wolf whistle went up and it spread through the six or seven pupils in our class like fire in a pub.

"Get a room!"

"PDA alert!"

Scorpius and I broke apart, arms remaining round each other, and Scorpius grinned at a group of three Hufflepuff guys over my shoulder.

"Busted," I whispered to Scorpius.

"Thanks for ruining a moment there, guys," He told them sarcastically.

"No problem," The larger one laughed.

"Hey, Malfoy!" the one closest to us called his attention. "Does your daddy allow you to be snogging a Weasley?"

Even though the room had been particularly loud for one full of only nine people, the other four were a group of girls who had now decided to listen to our conversation. The three Hufflepuff's turned back to each other and started to laugh about how clever they were. Scorpius looked white – he hated people bringing up his father and family history.

"Hey, Farrow," I called back to the cocky Hufflepuff. "It's none of your business who he snogs and it's certainly none of your business what his family are like."

"Girlfriend's sticking up for you, Malfoy?"

"Hey!" I complained loudly. "Leave him alone. You know, I have a problem with your lazy eye and arrogant personality, but do I use it against you? No."

Everybody in the room laughed, including Oliver Farrow and, after a moment, he winked at me. "I like you, Weasley."

"Thanks..." I blushed.

"And, Scorpius, I don't really have a problem with you, man."

"Good," Scorpius spoke slowly. "'Cause I don't have a problem with you either."

"We cool?"

"We're... cool," Scorpius agreed. His eyes locked with mine and he made a face that meant '_Who says that anymore?'_. I laughed loudly and soon he joined me.

Professor Moore interrupted the mood as she stumbled into the class, arms full of papers and books that needed marking. She looked tired and extremely stressed out.

"Sorry I'm late," She dumped everything on her desk and flicked her wand so that each person received a sheet of paper. "This will be your work for today. Anything you don't get done in the lesson will need to be completed for homework and handed in next Thursday."

Everybody got to work quietly. We all knew that Professor Moore was strict, she didn't tolerate cocky students (Oliver frequently got detention from her), laziness or general bad behaviour, but she _was_ fair and stuck up for students when she could.

"What's the answer to number five?" Scorpius whispered in my ear after twenty minutes as he leaned over to read my paper.

Laughing quietly I snatched the paper away from him, "Figure it out for yourself."

"Hey," he complained. "You're much cleverer than I am—"

"Oh really?"

"—so _please_ tell me the answer, Rosie," he begged.

I turned to give him a look that meant '_Shut up and do your work'_ but he was too close, trying to take a look at my work, and I ended up head butting him in the chin. The action immediately caused a fit of chuckling between us.

"Excuse me," Professor Moore interrupted the quietness of the class, pushing her glasses onto her head as she addressed us two. "Is there something you'd wish to share with the rest of the class, Miss Weasley? Mr Malfoy?"

"Err," Scorpius hesitated.

"No...no, Professor," I stuttered.

"Sorry, Professor," Scorpius added.

As soon as the teacher went back to her marking we both went back to our work, trying our hardest not to laugh or attract attention to ourselves.

The lesson finished less than ten minutes later and Scorpius and I finally, after a lot of shoving and yelling at rough students on Scorpius' part, made it out of one crowded corridor and came to a complete halt in the next due to the hundreds of students eager to get to dinner. It was always hectic in the corridors at the beginning of lunch or dinner time because the students of Hogwarts were always hungry.

"You're a bad influence on me," I mumbled as a particularly large Fifth Year attempted to push past the crowds and head in the opposite direction.

"I know," Scorpius smirked. The fifth year slammed into me so hard that my bag flew off my shoulder and landed with a loud thump on the floor. "Hey!"

"Great," I mumbled as I bent to pick it up. "That'll be the ink pot that's broken all over my ruined homework."

"Hey!" Scorpius called again after the guy who had knocked my bag over, but he'd already bolted down the hallway and out of sight. "What a _marshmallow_."

"Don't worry about it, Scor," I told him as I stood up. "The guys obviously got places to be."

"I'll show him '_places to be_'," Scor muttered under his breath. He looked up at me and I couldn't help but grin. "What?"

"Look at you getting all protective," I teased.

He gently took my bag from my hands and pushed it over his own shoulder. "Is that a bad thing?"

"I suppose not," I laughed, taking his hand in mine.

We had moved only a few more steps towards the Grand Staircase by the time Hugo, Lily and Dom joined us from their classes.

"Well, it looks as if Hayley is getting six weeks worth of detentions for that," Lily grinned as her and Hugo finished telling Dom a story that sounded as if Lily's arch enemy, Hayley, had got into some trouble. Lily was smiling like her birthday had come early.

Dom clearly hadn't been paying any attention as she sighed dramatically to show that her younger cousin was boring her and turned to Scorpius and me.

Despite the limited space we had between students, Scorpius and I both edged away from each other and dropped our intertwined hands, both speaking at the same time to divert attention.

"What was that, Lils?"

"You hungry, Dom?"

Dom and Lily exchanged confused looks but Lily answered her question. "That Hayley _girl_ has finally been given detention by Professor Derry!"

"You mean somebody _actually_ realised that she isn't a goody-goody?" I encouraged Lily as we finally shuffled with the crowd down the staircase.

"I know!" Lily squealed loudly, scaring a few Second Years who had been squashed beside her. "It's about time! That miniature Lavender Brown..."

"Do we want to know what she did?" Scorpius asked hesitantly.

"She snogged her boyfriend in the lesson," Lily sighed as if it didn't matter what Hayley had done, so long as she'd been punished.

Hugo burst into a fit of laughter. "But she's dating _Jeffry_."

"No way!" Dom exclaimed as we finally made it over to Gryffindor table and sat down beside Al and Roxanne. "He's so ugly!"

"Dom!" I scolded her. "That's not very nice. He might have a really nice personality. You shouldn't just judge people on how they look."

"Oh yeah," Dom sighed sarcastically. "Are you telling me that you would still have a crush on Scorpius if he wasn't as absolutely hot as he is now?"

"I... what?" I hesitated, my fork full of potatoes hanging in midair beside my mouth.

"What?" Scorpius' reply came only half a millisecond behind mine. "I don't... I mean, Rose isn't... she doesn't..."

"No," I stated firmly. "I don't..."

Dom raised her eyebrows at us both. Neither of us could downright lie to their faces.

"I... erm, I'm going to see if... if Alice needs help with her..." I didn't bother to finish my excuse but simply stood up and walked off in the opposite direction and out of the hall.

Maybe I would go find Alice; at least work on Herbology would keep my mind off of what Dom had just said. _Did she know about us? Or was she just teasing?_

Or maybe I'd simply have a long conversation about it with Alice.

* * *

><p><strong>Scorpius' POV<strong>

"What was that all about?" Al questioned mostly Dom and me.

Ignoring him completely I slapped Dom lightly round the back of the head. "What was that for?"

Okay, so I know I shouldn't have hit a girl but it wasn't hard and it wasn't to inflict deliberate pain; I was annoyed.

"Come on!" Dom rolled her eyes. "It's about time _somebody_ mentioned it to you both."

I didn't know what to say so I simply mumbled a few beginnings of sentences. "But I... You should... When – If... Even though... Dom!"

"Scorpius," Dom looked me straight in the eye. "You look at me and tell me without lying that you don't have feelings for my dear cousin, Rose?"

Al laughed along with Roxanne and Dom as I stuttered.

"Rose left her bag," Lily informed us all, coming to my rescue so that I didn't have to actually answer Dom.

"I'll take it to her," I shook my head at them all as if in disappointment, winking only at Lily to show my thanks for her helping me escape from the situation. "Besides, I'm tired of being laughed at."

That just set them all off again as I headed off to find Rose and I could still hear them laughing loudly over the noise of the hall as I started up the Grand Staircase.

She'd be in the library. And I knew that not because she had mentioned helping Alice with her homework, but because it was _Rose._ And I knew her so well.

_Of course she was in the library._

Luckily the crowds of students had died down and there was now hardly anybody about the corridors.

They were probably all eating.

As soon as I entered the library I noticed Madame Pince asleep at her desk in the closest right-hand corner. An all-too-familiar voice floated across from the far depths of the library, loudly rambling on about Al and '_that beastly Dominique' _over the, previously peaceful, silence.

I had taken no more than three steps onto the old faded carpet when I heard the voice of Alice snapping at Rose, "Well, if you don't want people to make fun of you both, why don't you stop secretly sticking your tongue down his throat and make the _joyous_ news public?"

I stormed over to the far corner, nodding politely to the few older students who were furiously trying to finish a piece of important homework and apologising for the scene that Rose and Alice were unknowingly making.

I turned the corner round one of the bookshelves in the far corner to find Rose furiously stamping her foot on the greying carpet, dust rising immensely from the floor, and Alice trying to scan the shelf for a particular book whilst being hassled by Rose.

"Do you two realise just how loud you're talking?" I whispered relatively loudly myself to them both.

They spun round and I saw both their faces change from annoyance at each other as they noticed who I was; Roses' lips turned up into a relieved smile whilst Alice looked even more irritated.

I handed Rose her bag, unable to stop myself from placing a quick, gentle kiss on her cheek and sending her a huge grin.

"_I'm_ not talking loudly," Alice argued. "_She _is."

I had never seen Alice particularly angry before so I actually found it rather amusing but she seemed like the type of girl, like Rose, that you didn't mess with when she was angry, so I didn't laugh.

Alice sighed in annoyance and turned to us both, thrusting a comparatively large hardback book into my hands and turning to glare at us both.

"Do you realise just how much hard work I've been doing lately?" She whispered to us both, clearly deciding that we needed to know some things that she'd been hiding from us. "Every time you two are off doing Merlin knows what _I'm_ the one everybody turns to and asks where you are!"

I looked at Rose and we both knew we were wondering that same thing: _Were we being told off?_

"And I have to come up with some _lame_ idea that explains why you both had to mysteriously disappear at the same time. You have no idea how many times I've had to jump Al to distract him or how many games of Exploding Snap I've had to announce just to get everybody off my back."

"I'm sorry, Alice," Rose mumbled to her best friend.

"Well..." Alice looked lost for words. She wasn't a naturally angry or mean person so she didn't know what to say. "You should be. You know," she turned to me. "If you don't ask her out soon then I'm just going to tell everybody that you're spending so much time together because you're attending a Pognophobia Club."

She sighed dramatically at us one last time, taking the hardback book from my hands, and stormed off behind the next row of bookshelves.

I exchanged a confused look with my girlfriend and we both, trying again not to laugh, followed Alice.

"And... _'Pognophobia'_ is...?" Rose questioned Alice as she continued looking for a book.

"You don't know what that is?" I asked Rose, hardly having to feint surprise. Rose normally knew what everything was.

"It's the fear of beards, thank you very much," Alice informed us, to our immense amusement.

I shook my head in amazement. "Whoa, imagine having a fear of beards..." I mumbled, my imagination slightly drifting off.

"Anyway," Rose announced to attract my attention again. It seemed as if Alice had started to ignore the conversation too. "We _are_ going out," she hissed, glancing over her shoulder to check if anybody was listening in to our conversation.

She knew there was nobody there, after all we were now quite far into the depths of the library where the dusty books that nobody but she read were, so I leaned forwards and muttered in her ear, in a voice two octaves higher than my normal voice, "Paranoid."

Rose turned and gave me a playful slap on the arm. "Be quite you," she grinned.

"So you're..." Alice finally left her book searching to look at us both. "You're actually dating now? Officially?"

"Officially," I stated.

"Sort of..." Rose added.

"What do you mean _'sort of'_?" Alice asked wearily.

"Well, it's still kind of secret," I told her. "But we _are_ actually dating."

"Oh... You've _got_ to be kidding me?" Alice complained, but she was joking, back to her usual self.

I laughed quietly along with both the girls. It suddenly occurred to me, when was the last time I had spent some time with somebody from my dorm room? With somebody from Slytherin?

_I guess prejudices really were being broken._

Alice and Rose had started up a conversation whilst I'd been thinking to myself and I quietly called Rose over to me as Alice exclaimed in triumph that she might have finally found the book she'd been looking for.

"Hey," I whispered as Rose took the three steps towards me so that I could wrap my arms around her waist. "Want to meet up tonight? Before detention, I mean?"

I shot her my most dazzling smile. She grinned back at me. "I suppose I could take the time out of my busy schedule..."

"You suppose," I repeated playfully. "You've got other boyfriends to meet as well?"

"A handful," she agreed jokingly.

"Liar," I whispered in her ear as she got closer.

"What?" Rose complained. "That's no way to talk to your girlfriend."

"Well then I'll just go and talk to my _many_ other girlfriends..." I teased again.

"But where would the fun in that be?" She asked. "Because I'm your favourite."

"And why is that?" I grinned again. We were being sickeningly sweet, but I didn't care. I was happy with Rose.

"Because you love me more," she chuckled in my ear before kissing me gently.

"When you two have _quite_ finished with your completely inappropriate PDA..." Alice started and we quickly broke apart.

"Oops," Rose smiled sheepishly at her friend.

"Sorry, Alice," I sent her my charm smile, which worked on any of my teachers when I forgot my homework or any girl when I wanted to stun her into a frozen state so that I could escape. Sure enough, Alice grinned back at me like a little girl with a lolly pop.

"Erm, Alice?" Rose waved a hand in front of her friends face. Alice blinked and turned her eyes upon Rose. "What were you saying?"

"Oh, err... I was going to tell you that keeping a relationship a secret is hard work at Hogwarts."

"News spreads like fiendfyre," I agreed helpfully.

"Well..." Rose struggled to think of an answer. "People will probably know soon enough anyway."

"What?" I asked, shocked.

"How come?" Alice was confused too.

"Alice, if you wanted to spread some news around school as fast as possible, who would you tell?"

"Frank Hillside," Alice recited without hesitation.

"Exactly..." Rose said, assuming we'd caught on to her thinking by now.

"Hold on," I could almost see the penny dropping. "Frank Hillside? As in the brother of Amelia Hillside? As in the girlfriend of Oliver Farrow?" Rose nodded. "Oh... Merlin."

"I think I've missed something..." Alice mumbled as I placed my head in my hands.

"We... _may_ have been... showing affection for one another... in Ancient Runes when Professor Moore didn't turn up—," I started.

"You... idiots," Alice laughed.

"That's one thing we _do_ know, Alice," Rose sighed.

"And Oliver started a thing about our families and then everybody was in the conversation," I added.

"So... Oliver Farrow knows?" Alice tried to sort out the facts.

"Yes."

"And he has last lesson with Amelia, so she'll know by then. So... theoretically, everybody will know by tomorrow morning..." Alice stated again.

"Oh... _great_," I mumbled sarcastically.

"Well..." Alice looked a little uncomfortable. "I'm going to go finish my homework for Professor Longbottom."

I rolled my eyes. _Thanks for all the help, Alice._

"I'll help," Rose sighed. "It'll distract me from thoughts of my murderous cousins."

"Erm, you do realise it's _me_ they'll murder, right?"

She grinned at me and Alice, who had evidently completely missed the exchange, addressed her.

"Thanks, Rose," Alice smiled. "That'll probably half the time it'll take me. I might even get some time for a quick dinner."

"Well, I'm a miracle worker," Rose joked as they wandered off to find a table.

I figured that I would head back down to the Great Hall for some food, even if Dom was still there. If she wanted to tease me, she could tease me. I'd get her back soon enough.

I took four steps around two bookshelves and suddenly, out of nowhere, Tara was there.

I took a step back from sheer fear. Seriously.

"Scorpius," she gushed, no doubt pretending that we'd bumped into each other by an accident. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Yeah..." I mumbled uncertainly as she twirled a piece of her carefully sculpted hair around her finger. "What a... surprise."

She giggled hysterically. "You're so funny."

"Erm, sure," I agreed, taking a step diagonally forwards so that I could escape as soon as possible.

She quickly placed a hand on my chest. "Hey, hey, why don't we... stay, chat, and... stuff."

"Actually," I bit on my lip, trying to think of a way around this. Tara was very persistent in getting the guy she wanted. And she'd wanted me for the best part of a year, so she was getting increasingly obvious with her flirting and even needier each time we met. "I've got somewhere to be."

"Oh, I'm sure it's not that important," she said, but it sounded more like she was telling me something rather than suggesting it. I didn't answer her – I didn't know how to. After a few moments of awkward silence, on my part, she spoke again, in what I supposed she thought was a breezy manner. "I just _love_ the library, don't you?"

I decided to go with a different tactic, rather than being polite. "No."

"Oh," the smile wavered from her face. "Me neither. I don't know how that Weasley can stand it so much."

"She's clever," I replied bluntly.

"She's a freak," Tara commented, supposedly to look cool. In reality, it did the complete opposite – it made me angry.

"You don't know what you're talking about," I stated firmly.

"Well," she took two steps towards me. I hadn't decided what to do yet so I stood still. I might need the element of surprise to run away if she threw herself at me like she'd tried to do on numerous occasions. "I was thinking that, since the library is always so... full of people, maybe we should... relocate to my room, if you like?"

"Erm," I hesitated for a second. Should I be rude? Or blunt? "No."

She blinked. "What?"

"No... no, sorry."

Suddenly, Tara was angry. "What is your problem, Malfoy? I'm gorgeous, I know I am, just look at me. And I've been hinting at us to be together for ages and you just keep ignoring all the signs. We'd be great together! Just look at us both, we'd practically control the students of Hogwarts. So what is your _problem?"_

"I, err," It looked as if Tara was about to cry, and that was the last thing I wanted. I stepped towards her and placed a hand on her shoulder as comfort. "Look, Tara, I'm sorry that I've hurt your feelings but... but I have a girlfriend and I love her and, even if I didn't have a girlfriend, NEWTs are important so I probably wouldn't be looking for a relationship."

"You... wouldn't?" She sniffed.

"No," For a moment I thought that I'd finally got the message across to her, but suddenly she looked up at me with a creepily determined look in her eyes, pushed me against the walls of one of the bookshelves rather forcefully and tried to force her lips onto mine.

I tried to mumbled something and push her away but I didn't want to hurt her and she was surprisingly strong so it took me a moment to prise her hands off of my shirt.

"Tara, what are you-"

"You know you want me, Malfoy," she whispered, struggling against me and, again, trying to force her lips onto mine.

"Scorpius," I heard a voice call from a few metres away.

Finally, Tara stepped away from me, slapping me across the cheek and exclaiming suddenly, "I can't believe you just did that."

And, swinging her hair over her shoulder dramatically, she cat walked out of the library with all eyes on her. All eyes but Roses'.

Rose stood rooted to the spot, staring at me and looking shocked. I was pretty sure my expression mirrored hers exactly.

"Rose..." I started softly, stepping forwards.

"I can't believe that just happened, Scorpius," she whispered.

"I _promise_ you, Rose, that I _did not_ kiss her," I pleaded. She _had_ to believe me, right? I honestly don't know what I'd do if she didn't. What if she thought I had initiated it?

"I... I know," she mumbled again. I breathed a sigh of relief - thank Merlin I had a rational girlfriend. "I saw it all, but I... she still... it's still a surprise."

"I know, Rose," I hurried over to her, taking her hands. "I really didn't do anything. It's all Tara, she's crazy... Forgive me?"

"I do," She stated.

"You do?" I had to repeat for confirmation. "Thank Merlin."

"Just one thing, Scorpius," Rose looked straight into my eyes. "Did you really mean what you said?"

"What I said?" I asked, confused.

"That you love me?" She asked again. "I know you've told me a few times but... do you really love me?"

"Of course I do, silly," I smirked.

"Good, because I think I love you too," Rose grinned.

"You think?" I pretended to be hurt.

"I _do_ love you," she amended. "And next time I see Tara, I'm going to slap her."

I laughed. "You know what's strange? I actually think you might."

"She's had it coming," Rose grinned. "Nobody messes with my man."

"Are you my _girl_ then?" I smirked. "Hold on, where's Alice?"

"She's finishing up her essay. I told her she had to write the conclusion herself."

"Harsh," I commented. "Want to get some dinner then?"

"I do," she agreed and we made our way out of the library.

As soon as we exited the doors into the corridors I wrapped my arm over her shoulder.

"Let me carry your bag," I stated softly.

She laughed. "Why?"

"Because, I'm your knight in shining armour and it's only polite."

"I can carry it," she smiled. "But thanks for offering."

"Come on, Rose," I grinned at her and we stopped walking. "Let me be charming."

"You're always charming," she sighed, a hint of a smile playing at her lips as she placed the palms of her hands against my chest.

"I know, but I like to do nice things for my girl, especially if that means I earn bonus points and... and what?"

She was grinning at me which made me lose my train of thought. With one finger she pointed up at the ceiling in the corridor. I followed her mischievous gaze, then smirked back at her. "Mistletoe?"

"Mistletoe," she agreed, wrapping her arms round my neck and stepping even closer to me. "And _I'm_ the only girl who is allowed to be this close to you."

I kissed her happily, placing my arms around her waist. Her lips tasted of strawberries and it was a relief to be holding someone familiar and comfortable. Being close to Tara had been an uncomfortable experience.

Before too long I had my arms wrapped tightly around her and her hands had firmly wound in my hair. I backed her up against the wall of the corridor so that her body was thrust backwards and then wedged firmly between my own and the stone wall of the corridor.

I moved my hands to gently grasp her face as I kissed her passionately. I missed kissing her and she evidently missed it too. Not that we'd really been apart for very long, but we'd only had time to be together secretly for a few minutes at a time, except in Ancient Runes earlier, and suddenly teenage hormones took over.

Sometimes I was embarrassed of how I was such a typical teenage guy.

Her hands went under my shirt and pulled me even closer to her whilst my hand slowly slid up her thigh.

"Oi, get your hands off my cousin!"

We jumped apart quicker than lightning as a shield charm smacked into me and sent me flying. I tumbled into the opposite wall and ended up slumped on the floor.

"Ouch!" I exclaimed, followed by a string of swear words, tenderly touching the top of my head where a sharp pain had begun. When I withdrew my hand I saw blood covering my fingers. "What the hell was that?"

"What was that?" Fred yelled at me. "What is _this_?"

"If you hadn't slammed me into the wall I would have happily told you," I yelled at him as I got to my feet. "Lower your wand, Fred."

"Fred," Rose exclaimed, shocked, when he didn't. "Do it."

"You better not touch her again," Fred threatened me as he did as she said.

"Or what?" I'd had it with his empty threats and tough-guy facade.

"Stop it!" Rose yelled at us both, stamping her foot in annoyance. "Just calm down, Fred."

"Me?" Fred, livid, turned to his cousin. "What about him? He had his hands all over you."

"Of course he did!" Rose shook her head. "He's my boyfriend."

"No he _frickin'_ isn't!" Fred shouted. A few people had ventured from the library or nearby classrooms where they had been hanging out to assess the situation.

"Look, Fred," Rose grabbed his arm. "Let's get out of here and I'll explain it all to you in a minute."

Fred looked hesitant, like he wanted answers then and there, but settled for muttering, "Well, I'm walking between you."

"Fine," I agreed as we set off at a quick pace towards the Gryffindor Common Room. "But I'm not happy with you smashing my head in like that."

"Hey!" Fred complained. "_I'm_ not happy with this at the moment. You had your hands all over her."

"That's an overstatement," Rose argued with her cousin.

"Is it?" Fred asked.

"Listen, _Fredrick_," Rose turned to face him, blocking his walking path. I stopped too. "If I didn't want his hand up my shirt, it wouldn't be there. Do you understand me?"

Fred gulped and opted for nodding. Rose turned to me and stepped forwards so that she could assess my head. I saw Fred's eyes narrow as she placed her hands on my face. "Does it hurt?"

I glared at him. "Yes."

"It's bleeding, but I think you'll be alright with just a bandage," Rose informed me.

"Are you sure?" I mumbled. Sometimes I was such a baby.

"Hey!" Fred complained as we continued walking. "I want answers first."

"You'll get them," Rose snapped as she gave the Fat Lady the password and we entered the Gryffindor Common Room.

It was empty but we didn't sit down. As soon as we reached the fireplace Fred turned on me. "What _exactly_ are you doing with her?"

"I... what?" I was expecting abuse first, questions later.

"She's not somebody you can mess with," Fred warned me. "If you hurt her I swear we'll hurt you twice as much."

I caught on to the plural quickly. "I know, Fred. But I'm not going to... to hurt her."

"I can take care of myself, Fred," Rose protested.

"How long has this been going on for?" Fred ignored her and continued addressing me in an accusing way.

I exchanged a look with Rose. "A couple of weeks."

"Weeks?" Fred genuinely looked surprised.

"Oh, don't look so put out, Fred," Rose snapped again. "This is exactly why we didn't tell you or anybody else. You'll all overreact. The only person we could trust was Alice."

"Alice knows?" Fred seemed distracted by this.

"Yes," Rose confirmed quickly. "And now you do."

"But you can't tell anybody," I added.

"Of course I will," Fred exclaimed suddenly.

"If you do," Rose pulled out her wand and stuck it under Fred's chin. "I'll personally hex you off the Astronomy Tower."

Fred gulped again. "Okay, I'll let you do it," he agreed. "But it better be soon."

Before either of us could reply the portrait hole opened and Roxanne, Dom, Lily, Hugo and Angie entered, laughing abut something that appeared to have targeted Hugo.

"What's going on?" Hugo asked; probably to distract everybody else from whatever they were teasing him about.

"Nothing," Rose replied quickly, taking a seat in one of the armchairs and joining the others.

"Don't you have detention soon?" Roxanne asked.

"Or maybe you should make an announcement first," Fred mumbled.

"No," Rose was quick to stop that line of conversation.

"Announcement about what?" Lily asked, clearly hearing their discussion.

"You want to tell them, or shall I?" Fred smirked at us both.

"You're right, Fred, we've got detention," I mumbled, helping Rose to her feet.

"Both of you?" Angie asked.

"What did you do?" Roxanne added.

"Err, I got caught copying Roses' homework," I lied efficiently.

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "See you later. And Fred, remember what we spoke about."

And, with that final threat, we hurried out the room to our three hour detention, confident that Fred wouldn't say anything unless he wanted to be ingesting Skele-Grow for the next two months.

* * *

><p><strong>So I hope you liked this chapter.<strong>

**What do you think about Fred's reaction? I hope it caught his personality.**

**Also, I was curious as to how you lot all think Ron will react? It's interesting to see what perception different people have.**

**Thanks so much for reading.**

**It's LOVE a review if you could?**

**Thanks again!**


	18. Sharing Secrets

**Hey again! I'm updating quick at the moment! There's going to be 26 chapters and an epilogue, for those of you wondering. I _may_ even write a sequel later, if people want to read one... :D  
><strong>

**Guess what the totally awesome Abigail Thalia La Rue did? She drew awesome art of Rose and Scorpius! Seriously, I can't draw to save my life, so I admire someone who can! Check it out: http:/ abbytlarue (dot) deviantart (dot) com/art/ScorXRose-from-HMP-254850429  
><strong>

**Anyway, on to this chapter: I love to write in Scorpius's POV so that last bit was quite good fun. The Al's POV part is rather short but at least it's something. I hope you get some things out of the Al/Alice relationship with that short section, for all you Al/Alice shippers. I haven't really shown them too much, so it was nice to write.  
><strong>

**Anyway... I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

><p><em>Rose's POV<em>**  
><strong>

Detention wasn't exactly the most interesting or preferable thing I would normally choose to do during the evening, but, actually, it wasn't that bad.

Okay, so I spent most of the time charming buckets of water or table polish to spill all over Scorpius or to follow him around the room, but it was still detention.

And it was still in the creepy Potions rooms late into the evening.

Scorpius and I had been instructed that we could leave at half past nine, provided that the room was tidy and we'd done some work.

We didn't take the job seriously, anyway. We knew we'd just be back soon cleaning an incredibly messy potions room and washing sticky Bats Liver off the tables all over again.

By the time half past nine came along we were both covered in the dust that had accumulated throughout the surfaces of the room, dirty water from flicking it off of the mops we were armed with, black polish that looked a little like shoe polish and, finally, a disturbing frothy, purple-blue mixture that had evidently been the result of an experiment-gone-wrong earlier in the day.

Hands intertwined and laughing uncontrollably, Scor and I ambled down the sixth floor corridor in no hurry to get back to our dorms.

"Why is it that I'm the one who's covered the most when I clearly have more skill than you?" Scorpius complained pathetically, glancing down at his completely covered school uniform.

"Probably because you _let_ me hit you a few times with that potion..." I grinned at him. _And he thought I hadn't noticed._

"You realised, huh?" He actually blushed as he sat down on a large windowsill, pulling me with him so that I sat on his lap.

"I'm not like your previous dumb girlfriends, Scor," I laughed.

"You certainly aren't," he kissed me on the cheek. "And I would never have let them win."

"'_Would'_?" I questioned him.

"Yeah, well, my previous girlfriends weren't too concerned with deep, meaningful conversations, if you know what I mean..."

We both blushed awkwardly; I hated thinking about Scorpius making out with other girls, he hated talking about it.

"I know what you mean," I whispered, smiling, as I stood up and wandered the few steps across the corridor to lean against the opposite wall. "And, y'know, I'm not _always_ too concerned about deep, meaningful conversations either..." I raised my eyebrows suggestively at my boyfriend.

"I don't doubt _that, _Rose Weasley," he smiled.

I laughed. "You make me sound so easy."

"Well, you can't even think when I'm around," he teased. "I'm _that_ intoxicating."

"Of _course_, Scorpius," I agreed sarcastically. "Oh, the powers you have over me."

I pretended to swoon over him. Raising his eyebrows, Scorpius smirked at me. "Oh, so it's not true?"

"No," I laughed as he edged closer to me.

"Really?" He whispered.

"Nope," I nodded.

"I'm not intoxicating _at all_?" He slowly stepped across the corridor and stood in front of me as he spoke.

"No, not at all," I continued, standing my ground.

And then he ruined it by leaning in so that his nose touched mine and placing his hands on my waist.

"How about now?" He breathed.

"I... I—what?" I completely forgot what we were talking about.

Scorpius leaned in closer, his lips tickling my ear, and breathed, "You, Rose Weasley, have just been bamboozled."

As he stepped away my brain caught up with reality.

I glared at him.

"What?" He chuckled.

"If you're going to use words like '_bamboozled'_ then I'm not hanging around with you anymore."

He shot me a smile that could only be described as charming. "We should really get a move on," he continued. "Curfew's only in a few minutes and we really don't want to be caught out after hours _again_, do we?"

His eyes twinkled at me from behind his fringe, suggesting the complete opposite, as I stepped closer, flipping my own hair over my shoulder and out of the way.

"Then again," he whispered, and I felt his breath on my neck, "a few minutes couldn't hurt..."

* * *

><p>"What the<em> hell<em> happened to you?" Dom exclaimed as I entered the dorm room and collapsed on my bed.

"Detention..." I mumbled, rolling onto my side to see her better.

She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, holding an old book of mine in one hand. "You look like hell."

I chuckled quietly. "Thanks, I _feel_ like hell," I agreed. "By the way, can you make sure you put that book back when you've finished reading it, please?"

Dom blinked at me, before realising what I was talking about. "Oh, no... I – I'm not really reading it. Fred came to annoy me and I used it to pretend I wasn't listening so he'd get bored and go away," she sighed.

I chuckled nervously, not quite laughing like I usually would have. I asked carefully, "What did he come here for?"

"I don't know," Dom grinned, flipping over to lie on her stomach. "Something about some _huge_ news that he wanted to tell me."

"And... and what was it?"

I swear I practically held my breath for her answer. "He didn't get round to it – I told him to shut up and go away," she laughed.

"Are you talking about Fred?" Alice asked as she entered the room from the bathroom. I could hear Niomi and Polly laughing as the smell of hair dye drifted into the bedroom. After last months fiasco, they'd decided to use muggle dye, rather than chance purple hair again. Magical beauty spells were _not_ their forte.

"Yeah," Dom tossed the book she was holding onto my bed – _Hogwarts: A History._ "He's such a creep."

"He's your cousin," Alice muttered from under her pillow, pointing out the obvious. Evidently she thought that meant Dom was supposed to be nice to him – actually, it meant Dom was even meaner to him.

"So... so he didn't say anything to you about..." I _had_ to ask. "About Scorpius?" I tried to keep the conversation topic away from me but I really needed to check Fred hadn't mentioned _anything_ to them.

_I was going to kill that boy for even trying to tell Dom about Scorpius and I. I'd warned him, had I not?  
><em>

Alice stared at me, trying to silently ask what was going on. Dom just shrugged.

"No... Nothing," Alice sighed.

"If he had, I would have listened," Dom winked.

I sighed in relief. "Thank Merlin," I muttered louder than I thought I had.

That caught Dom's attention. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing."

"Seriously, Rose, you've been awfully concerned with Malfoy these past few days," Dom continued, leaning up on her elbows. "Since Christmas..."

"Have I?" My voiced raised an octave. I glared at Alice for help, she just grinned in a '_you got yourself into this mess' _kind of way.

Neither Dom or I spoke – I felt as if a spotlight was shining on me as we stared at each other.

"Why's it so quiet?" Polly laughed as she and Niomi entered the room and collapsed onto my bed.

"Thank Merlin!" I half-whispered to Polly, breaking eye contact with Dom. "You just saved my life."

She grinned, "Any time."

Dom gave me a look that I knew meant she'd corner me later if she got the chance.

"Did I hear you talking about Scorpius Malfoy?" Niomi asked after a second.

_And I thought I was free from that topic._

"Oh, Merlin, he is so _fine_," Polly exclaimed.

"I'll second that," Dom agreed, high-fiving Polly.

"Rose just had detention with him," Alice added unhelpfully, knowing that her comment would keep the conversation on Scorpius. I glared at her and mouthed _'Thanks for that' _as the others stared squealing.

Their sentences blurred together as they tried to convey information as quickly as possible. I sighed.

"Alone?" Polly raised her eyebrows.

"Well... Scorpius was there," I replied dryly.

"Duh," Niomi laughed. "You know what we mean, Rose."

"Yeah... I do..." I grinned into my pillow.

"If I was alone with Scorpius I'd –," Dom started.

"We know what you'd do, Dom!" Alice laughed.

"Hey, I'm only human," was Dom's defence.

"Actually," Niomi spoke up. "I think I'd just like to have a conversation with him. The poor boy probably gets girls trying to snog him every five seconds. I think he'd appreciate somebody to talk to."

"Not when he uses words like '_bamboozle_' and _'crikey'_, you don't," I mumbled.

They all laughed.

"Well, Ni," Polly addressed her best friend. "Aren't you a little busy at the moment, what with all those _conversations_ you've been having with Greg _and_ James..."

"Hey!" Niomi grinned, throwing a pillow at Polly. "I haven't decided which one of them I like the best yet... "

"Well, you've got until the next Hogsmeade date to decide, Ni, or they'll find out there's two of them," Polly warned her friend. "And when you do decide, let me have the other, yeah?"

"Oooh, want my spares?" She joked, grinning.

Polly joke-smacked her, then grinned back. "Yep, and I'm not ashamed to say it. Your taste in guys is _perfect_. And if you've got a date for Hogsmeade, I might as well find something to amuse me that day too."

"And the day is?" Dom looked to me.

"Huh?" I honestly hadn't really been imagining joining the conversation, just simply listening. "Oh, it's February 14th."

"Valentine's Day!" Alice exclaimed excitedly.

"And that's how you tell the girl has a boyfriend," Dom laughed.

"It's a great event..." Alice mumbled.

"But when you're single though..." Polly agreed with Dom.

"Yeah, it sucks when you're single," Dom said.

"Well get a boyfriend then," I laughed.

"What, that easily?" She raised her eyebrows sceptically.

"Dom!" I grinned. "You're _Dominique Weasley_! You're, what... an eighth Veela!"

Dom simply stared with a blank expression on her face for a few seconds. Then she smirked, "That's true."

"Exactly," I smiled.

"You can get probably any guy you want, Dom," Alice continued with the confidence-boost, possibly feeling a little guilty about reminding Dom that she didn't have a boyfriend.

"So... which guy do you want, Dom?" Polly asked not-so-subtly.

"Okay, so this might seem a little strange because we know him quite well and everything," Dom suddenly burst into conversation. "But... I might try to have my way with Mr Malfoy for a little bit..." She smiled mischievously.

"You can't," I blurted out immediately, unable to stop myself.

"What?" Dom and all the others were also confused at that outburst. "Why not?"

"Well, because... because he—," _Because he's secretly dating your cousin?_

"Because he has a girlfriend!" Alice exclaimed, but instead of sounding informative, it sounded more like she had finally found an answer to a riddle.

"He does?"

"Who?"

"Errm, I don't know..."Alice mumbled slowly, and very unconvincingly, stringing out the words as long as possible.

"Oh, you _so_ do," Dom laughed. "You can't keep it a secret for long, Alice," she warned. "Nothing ever stays secret at Hogwarts."

_Uh oh. My cousins were not going to like it when they found out._

No doubt Al would strongly oppose Scorpius and me as a couple. I mean, he'd flipped when _Angie_ had agreed to go to the Christmas Ball with a Slytherin, let alone a Malfoy.

Let alone a Malfoy who was supposed to be his best friend and _not_ date his favourite cousin.

_Tomorrow was going to be painful._

_If he found out._

_Of course he was going to find out tomorrow! Gossip was a way of life at Hogwarts._

_Great._

* * *

><p>The first thing I did at breakfast the next morning was charm Fred's breakfast to turn to stone as soon as it was speared onto his fork.<p>

To be honest, I'd been looking for an excuse to use that charm on somebody as soon as I'd come across it.

And, yes, one of the possible probabilities if the spell had gone even slightly wrong would have been that Fred would have spent the whole day only able to say the words 'fork' and 'egg', but that wouldn't have been too bad.

In fact, I kind of wish I had charmed that to happen instead.

Okay, so it sounds mean but as soon as I joined everybody for breakfast I knew something was up. Fred, sitting directly opposite me, shrunk backwards and physically flinched every time I leaned forwards across the table to grab my drink, and the others all gave me continuous, curious stares throughout the meal. Nobody spoke much.

That was until Al, Roxanne, Hugo, Lily and Scorpius, the only ones missing, approached the table and sat down. From that moment onwards everybody was lively and alert.

The topic had just moved on from Uncle Neville's boring Herbology homework to the latest Quidditch match when Dom suddenly exploded with, "Rose has a boyfriend!"

Scorpius was the first to spit his food out and glare at me with wild eyes. These exact actions were copied by Al a few seconds later.

"How do _you_ know?" I glared at Dom.

"Yes," she exclaimed. "I had a hunch and you just proved it."

"Damn you, Dominique."

"Do you not want to know how I figured it out?" She seemed disappointed that nobody cared.

"Not really," Lily commented.

"Rose isn't the best at keeping secrets so it probably wasn't that hard to figure out," Roxanne agreed.

The bell went for morning lessons and I reached under the table to grab my bag. Alice's head appeared under the table too.

"Don't say anything," She hissed quickly, trying to get her words out as soon as possible. "Fred told everyone that you have a big secret that you haven't told any of us. He said he'd wait and see if you told us all today and if you don't he'll..." She used her fingers to make quotation marks in the air, "'_take matters into my own hands tonight'_".

Alice rolled her eyes as I tried not to laugh. I didn't have time to say anything back because everybody else was now joining us, diving under the table to grab their bags.

Mouthing '_thank you' _to Alice for the warning she'd given me I bounded up out of my seat, grabbed Scorpius, who happened to be in my next class, and waved goodbye to the others as I left the hall. In the confusion, nobody noticed we'd slipped away.

"Whoa, what's up?" Scorpius asked as he tried to keep up with me.

"Fred told everyone that I have a _'huge secret_' and he's going to reveal it to everybody later on tonight," I sighed.

"Right..." Scorpius said slowly, evidently thinking hard about something. He wasn't a morning person. It wasn't until we'd made it halfway down towards Hagrids Hut that he spoke again. "I take it that means there aren't any rumours about us yet?"

"Not yet," I confirmed cheerfully.

Scorpius sighed irritably. "Why is that such a good thing to you, Rose?" He asked. "Do you want us to keep this relationship a secret forever?"

"Of course I don't, Scor," I exhaled carefully. "But I really don't think that Al randomly overhearing the news is the best way for my overprotective cousin to find out that his best friend is spending his free time feeling up his cousin, do you?"

The corners of Scorpius' lips twitched but he didn't laugh. "What if I spoke to Al and told him in person? Would you then not care about everybody else?"

I bit my lip. "I suppose the rest of my cousins will survive and calm down, it's just Al who'll go berserk. And he punches harder than Fred does."

Scor flinched a little, as if he was imagining what getting punched by Al would feel like, probably physically and emotionally. "What about your parents?" He asked as we reached Hagrids.

"I'll deal with it," I grinned at him, trying to hide the horror that thought brought. _My dad may just explode... but if everybody was going to know, that meant **everybody**_. "What about yours?"

"Are you kidding?" Scorpius laughed. "My mum probably knew before I did. She's probably arranging wedding plans with your mum as we speak."

"I hope not," I shook my head at the thought. "If my mum knows, then my dad might know. My mum has never been the best at keeping secrets from my dad and Uncle Harry."

We reached the rest of our class, which didn't consist of many students, and joined them in crowding round a small bucket of, what looked like, water on the floor. It wasn't long until we learnt that today's lesson consisted of watching the bucket for an hour and recording our results.

None of us even bothered anymore to question Hagrid as to why this particular bucket of water was so special and simply got to work... doing nothing.

We found a spot slightly covered by branches so that if it rained we wouldn't get completely drenched and used our raincoats as blankets to sit on so that our uniform didn't get wet.

After a few moments of silence from us, Scorpius asked. "Do I need to talk to Hugo too?" I must have looked confused, because he elaborated. "Seeing as he's your _actual_ brother, wouldn't it be a good idea to tell him personally too?"

I thought about that. "Not really—"

"—Oh good, because I really didn't want to," Scorpius exhaled in relief.

"I mean, Hugo's pretty laid back – He'll probably be cool with us... or he'll get really mad and attack you in your sleep... you can never tell with Hugo."

Scorpius looked relatively alarmed by that sudden change in conversation but he quickly realised I was joking. "That's... that's just cruel."

I laughed.

_It was true. I hoped. I mean, Hugo was never one to explode, he liked Scorpius, and he was the only one of my male relatives who didn't look like he would spontaneously combust whenever someone mentioned me dating... I honestly think he'd be okay with it._

_I think._

* * *

><p><em>Al's POV<br>_

Alice was sitting alone at a desk in the library. She had it to herself because a variety of large textbooks had been scattered around the large table, all open on certain selected pages, and there was simply no space for anybody else to join her.

_Enter Al._

I annoyed my girlfriend quite a lot, actually. But she knew it was only for attention and that I wasn't serious because after every irritated retort she would always wink at me before getting back to whatever she was doing – usually homework.

She seemed to always have homework nowadays. I swear sometimes that she's in the library more than Rose.

Speaking of Rose, I hadn't actually seen _her_ in the library for quite a while. She s_urely _wasn't being kept so busy by Head Girl duties that she hasn't time for homework... And she surely wasn't volunteering to do extra shifts with Scorpius, right? That would be crazy. Scorpius and her hardly like each other – neither of them would willingly take up extra hours together. Perhaps Professor McGonagall was making them work extra shifts because they're supposed to be in charge.

I snorted.

_Scorpius in charge?_ I still couldn't believe he'd been given Head Boy. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for him and everything, but Professor McGonagall must have been mental to give all that power to _Scorpius_. Although, I suppose it would make Rose and him work together better if they actually had to restore some sort of order to the school.

Last year they almost ended up ruining half a corridor on the third floor one evening a few weeks into the term. I remember distinctly that Rose had yelled at me to "_control your friend_", to which Scorpius had replied that she should "_control your mouth_" and_ "stop thinking you know everything"_. I don't know what the argument had sprung from, but I do know that it was thoroughly amusing to watch to begin with. A few people lingered on the staircases to listen but soon got bored of their constant bickering and wandered off to find something better to do.

I still, to this day, do not know what triggered it, but suddenly I blinked and they were shooting restricted spells at each other – spells that McGonagall had deemed too violent or too extreme for under age wizards to use.

Anyway, as you can guess, they both ended up in the Hospital Wing. But not due to spells from each other – due to the force of my _protego_ charm that had slammed them backwards into the walls a little too hard. I was still sorry about that (I broke Rose's arm) but at least I stopped them from seriously injuring each other.

"Oh, Al!" Alice suddenly exclaimed, breaking through my thoughts. "Thank _Merlin_ you're here!"

"Why thank you, Alice," I grinned stupidly at her. "I'm flattered that you're so glad to see me, but more than a little confused."

She glared at me from across the table before hurrying round it to give me a kiss on the cheek. "You're my Al, of course I'm happy to see you... Besides, I needed a distraction from this _stupid_ History of Magic homework."

"We have History of Magic homework?" I asked, alarmed. I hadn't known that.

She sighed impatiently at me. "Al! Don't you ever listen in class?"

"Sometimes!" That was my best excuse. "Besides, I'm not going to _need_ to know what the _Great Goblin Rebellion of 1070_—"

"—1080," Alice corrected me.

"Same thing," I sighed. "But also proves my point. I'm _never_ going to need to know that because I'm going to be playing as the Chudley Cannons Captain and Seeker _extraordinaire_."

Alice snorted.

"I'll have you know, Ally, that the Chudley Cannons are doing very well at the moment," I grinned.

"Your uncle must be proud," Alice laughed.

"He is."

"Wait... didn't Rose mention the homework to you at break?" Alice asked.

"I haven't seen her all day. Normally I meet her after Care of Magical Creatures and we walk to History of Magic together but she said she was busy today. I figured she was up here."

"I haven't seen her," Alice mumbled, turning back to her homework.

I sighed. "Nobody's seen her recently."

"Well, maybe you should go find her, Al," Alice sighed, forcefully scribbling out a paragraph of her essay.

"I'll probably head to History of Magic and see if I can find her there," I thought out loud. "Want to come with?" I hoped she'd say yes and walk to class a few minutes early with me so that we could have a proper conversation for once. It felt like we hadn't spoken properly in weeks.

"I really should get this essay finished, Al. I'll meet you there."

"Alright," I mumbled sulkily and wandered out of the library, hastily kissing Alice before I left.

It was strange that Rose hasn't been around that much. Perhaps she was sorting out Prefect duties with Scorpius a lot of the time? I suppose they _had_ been getting on well recently. Hell, I'd even say they were pretty good friends, now I thought about it.

I couldn't help but shrug as a response to my inner monologue.

I'd been so preoccupied with Quidditch practice, I suppose I hadn't noticed. It was nice that they were friends though - it makes up for me hardly hanging out with either or them recently.

_Maybe you should concentrate on your own relationship at the moment, Al._

_Good point,_ I told myself.

I decided then and there that Alice and I were going to have the best Valentine's Day ever this year, because we really did need to spend some quality time together.

* * *

><p><em>Scorpius' POV<em>

"It'll be fine," Rose whispered in my ear as we walked down a crowded corridor on the Fifth floor towards History of Magic.

"He's going to punch me," I complained.

No wonder I wasn't in Gryffindor – I was definitely not courageous at times like this.

It seemed like an absolutely mental idea to tell Al that I was dating his cousin now that I was faced with the situation. Why tell him something that was surely going to get me punched? Don't get me wrong, I could beat up Al with my little finger if I wanted to, but if he wanted to punch me I completely understood that.

As we entered the noisy classroom Rose pushed me towards the seat by Al and wandered off to talk to her girl cousins who were all crowded round a desk at the front of the class looking at Merlin knows what.

Al was looking deep into his bag, evidently hoping the homework he hadn't done would magically appear.

"Hey," I greeted him, only a slight quiver in my voice.

_Man up Scorpius!_

"Hey, Scor," Al turned, resignedly, to look at me. "How are you, mate? I haven't spoken to you for a while."

"I spoke to you this morning, Al," I pointed out.

"You know what I mean," he grinned at me. Suddenly, his eyebrows knitted together. "You alright?"

"Hmmm?" I blinked at focused on him. "Yeah, grand."

I caught Rose's eye and saw her mouth '_grand'_ at me across the room in a questioning, yet slightly amused, way.

"Right..." Al continued to look at me concernedly.

"How's everything with you and Alice?" I broke the silence between us.

"Great. It's going to be better though, when I sort some stuff out," Al beamed. "_She's_ so great. I can't believe it took me so long to tell her how I feel. And my parents love her. I mean, it's easier because she's already friends with Rose so they know her a bit already."

"That's good," I mumbled. "Actually, it's sort of what I wanted to talk to you about."

Al looked up at me questioningly. We both sat down. The lesson should have started by now but Professor Binns was late, as usual.

"You might have heard a rumour about... about me and Rose?" I started. Indeed, rumours had begun to circulate around the school between this lesson and our previous lesson. The corridors were alive with the only new gossip in weeks.

It was best I told Al now and got it over with.

"Yeah, I did actually," Al laughed. "On my way up here. Pretty stupid really... Like anybody is going to believe those rumours. You two hate each other."

"We do?"

Al actually did a double-take at my question. "Come off it, Scor! You can barely be in the same room together without arguing. Remember last year when you—"

"Yes, Al, but that was _last_ year."

"Okay, well," he looked a little confused for a minute. "What about in the summer when—"

"Again, Al," I smiled nervously. "That was last year..."

Al didn't speak for a minute.

"So what are you trying to say?" Al finally asked, giving me an amused look.

"I'm trying to say that I _know_ Rose," I stated clearly. "Actually we're pretty good friends. Best friends."

"Best friends?" Al looked surprised, slightly, but also a little patronising, as if he was trying to convince himself as well as me. "I wouldn't say best friends. I mean, you hardly know anything about her..."

"I know her favourite colour is lavender, her favourite ice cream is chocolate chip, she loves it when it snows, her favourite time of day in sunset—"

"Whoa!" Al stopped me. "Since when did you learn all this stuff?"

"Well, y'know, we got to talking..." I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. "What with all that free time on rounds that we've been having this year..."

"Well, I suppose..." Al's sentence trailed off. "I suppose I might have figured you were friends..."

"Al?" I actually had to call him back to present time. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

I was nervous for his answer. "Yeah... yeah. You're saying that you and Rose are actually really good friends and I've been an idiot for not realising."

"I didn't say anything about the '_idiot_' thing," I laughed. "Although, for the record, I do agree with it."

Al smacked me round the back of the head. We both laughed and a kicking war ensued. I caught Rose's eye again and grinned at her.

Al noticed. "You know... I should have realised before but you two really do get on well, don't you?"

"We do," I smiled. "And, actually Al, I wanted to tell you something."

"Hmm?" He asked, looking up expectedly. "I thought we were finished with our heartfelt conversations?"

I opened my mouth to finally tell him that I was dating his cousin, but he continued as if he hadn't noticed.

"It's not like we're girls who have to talk about everything – like feelings or secrets. And I get that you and Rose are mates—"

"—Dating—" I stated bluntly. _Best get it over with. Now or never._

"—But you don't have to... wait, what?" He turned and, in an instant, glared at me. "Did you just say _dating_?"

I thought about laughing and pretending it was a joke, but I knew that would get me nowhere.

"Yes... yes, I did," I hurried to explain my reasons before Al's voice grew any louder than it had already. "And I just want to say that—"

"—You're dating my _cousin_?" Al yelled at me, standing up and towering over me. I stood up also, changing the height ratio, being naturally taller than Al.

The people having a conversation behind us turned to stare. I turned to look at them, to explain that nothing was going on between Al and I and that they didn't have to listen in to our conversation but as I glanced back at Al to check he wasn't going purple with rage I didn't get time to register the expression on his face before his fist smacked into the side of my head.

_Did I not say he'd punch me?_

There was a collective gasp from the class as everybody turned to watch the exciting scene. From the corner of my eye I saw Professor Binns finally arrive, but I knew he wouldn't do anything to stop a fight.

Not that there would be one. I wasn't going to punch Al back – I had no reason to. I deserved to be punched for not telling him when I first started to feel anything about his cousin. After all, you weren't supposed to date girls your best mate was related to.

"Look Al—" I turned back to him, my palms raised in surrender to show I wasn't going to fight back, but his fist, instead of falling to his side, kept on coming. It collided with the side of my jaw and I immediately tasted blood.

"_Tu... tu... ordure!"_

He punched me again, his fist slamming into the side of my nose. I took a step backwards from the force.

"Albus Severus Potter!" Rose managed to worm her way past the crowd of our classmates and stand between Al and me. "Stop swearing in French and leave him alone."

"You punch _really_ hard," I mumbled to Al.

"Get out of the way, Rose," Al told her.

She glared at her cousin, planted both her feet firmly on the ground and folded her arms across her chest.

"Make me," She growled.

"Rose," I stepped forwards to stand beside her, holding my right hand over my nose to stop the slight bleeding. "I deserved to be punched."

"Only once at the most," My girlfriend agreed with me. "But that is quite enough. You should both be ashamed of yourself."

I saw Roxanne, Fred and Dom standing at the front of the circle of people. All three looked on with confusion etched into their faces. Alice, however, seemed more amused than confused.

"He deserved it!" Al defended himself.

"Only the one punch!" I grumbled.

"See," Al pointed at me, still looking at Rose. "He even admitted it."

"But he's done nothing wrong," Rose pointed out.

"He's feeling up my cousin!" Al yelled.

The crowd of people responded with a mixture of laughter and gossiping.

"So, by that reasoning, _Albus_, are you going to punch me too?" Rose questioned her cousin.

She had him defeated on that point.

"Well no, but—"

"But what?" Rose glared at him. "Look, I know you're both _men_ and _manly_ and whatever but there is no reason to be punching each other at every little opportunity. Just because I am your cousin and Scorpius is your best friend that does not mean you have any right to poke your nose into our business. I know you may be annoyed, but if I want to spend my evenings with my tongue down his throat then that is up to me. Do you understand?"

Al had no option but to nod at Rose and glare at me.

My face had now gone completely red, on account of Rose's last comment, and it now resembled her hair colour – and her own face. To add to the embarrassment she, as if on reflex, placed one hand on my forehead to check my temperature and the other intertwined with my own hand.

"We should get you to the hospital," she fussed.

"No really, I'm fine," I grinned. I liked it when she fussed over me.

Alice had now stepped out of the circle of gossiping students to see if her boyfriend was OK. Fred, Dom and Roxanne stepped over to us, joining Al and Alice with me and Rose in one big circle.

"What the _hell_ is going on, Rose?" Dom glared at her cousin. Rose didn't know what to do so she shrugged apologetically.

_Why apologetically?_

"Is this why you said what you said yesterday?" Dom asked again, evidently not wanting the rest of us to know what she was talking about. "When we were talking about the next Hogsmeade trip?"

Rose looked very guilty. "I'm so sorry Dom."

None of us spoke for a second. Dom sighed, then grinned, "You know I don't really care, right, Rose?"

Both girls grinned and hugged, Rose's hand still attached to mine. When they pulled apart I locked eyes with Al.

A weird sort of half smile passed between us. "Are we alright?"

"Sure, I suppose so," Al sighed exasperatedly. Clearly, he wasn't happy with me dating his cousin but, now we'd gotten the punching over with, he wasn't going to object.

_I think Rose scared the life out of him._

The bored, rather fed up voice of our professor came from the front of the class. "Are we now ready to hand in our homework on the _Great Goblin Rebellion of 1080_?"

Al groaned.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks so much for reading! I absolutely LOVE you all for sticking with this story! I would love any review - we're almost at 200! 200! That's CRAZY! :D You're all brilliant. I'm so happy you're liking this story! It's all for you!<strong>

**And a little for my own selfishness, cause I love ScoRose.**

**But still, it's 95% for you! :D**

**P.s. See how excited I am to get this chapter up? Look at all those exclamation marks I'm using!**


	19. All Different Relationships

**Now, I know Aerosmith isn't exactly 2020's music (not that any of us would know until then, but still...), but I figured Scor liked older music.**

**Thank you all for getting this oveer 200 reviews! It's amazing!**

**Also, to alex4879 (I can't reply to you for some reason, not sure if you have an account or just use the same name? :D): Thank you for reading, I'm sorry about the odd spelling mistakes, I do proof-read, I promise! I'm just not that good at it sometimes. _(Although, ironically, I haven't proof read this chapter). _Also, I spell things like "favourite" like that instead of "favorite" because I'm from the UK. :D**

**It would also really help if anyone knew how to upload a story from an iPad? MagicalBeingsLoveToRead asked me, and I'm sadly useless with help, so if anybody can offer any help, could you message them and let them know? Thank you!**

* * *

><p>"See, that wasn't so bad," I smiled at Scorpius as we walked out of History of Magic.<p>

"That's easy for you to say," he mumbled. "I got hit."

"You said you were OK," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but I still want attention," he smiled at me cheekily.

"You're such a baby," I grinned.

He grinned back and took my hand in his as we wandered up a staircase. A few people followed us with their eyes, mostly girls.

We walked hand-in-hand through the corridors. With none of my family we attracted more attention. People hadn't really seen Scorpius and I as friends - they only thought he hanged round with us because of Al.

"People are looking at us," Scorpius muttered under his breath to me. He leaned his head down to the right towards me so that people didn't overhear but that just caused more whispering.

I tried not to smirk. "It's like they've never seen us before."

Scorpius couldn't hold in his laughter. "This whole situation is something I never thought I'd be in."

I nodded, agreeing, as we stopped by a window for Scorpius to tie up his shoelace. I sat on the large window ledge, looking out at the windy day across the lake.

"Do you think my parents will totally freak?" I mumbled quietly. It was something I really wanted to ask Scorpius, but I was afraid of his answer, so I waited until he was busy tying up his shoelace.

He hesitated. "Of course not."

"You're lying," I told him.

He looked up at me and grinned. "Okay, so I said it to make you happy but that's only because I have no idea how your parents will react. They'll most likely be fine with it. They know me, they _like_ me... enough."

"Most _likely_?" I sighed in exasperation.

"Rose," Scorpius sat beside me and placed his arm around my shoulders. "It'll be fine."

"Yeah?" I looked up at his face, not far from mine.

"Yeah," he promised, before kissing me sweetly. "They're reasonably people, and you're their little girl. They're not gonna argue _that_ much..."

The group of three Hufflepuff girls walking past made a noise that sounded as if they'd just seen a ghost and then hurried away to gossip.

"Where are we going, by the way?" Scorpius suddenly asked, pulling me up off the window ledge by the hand.

"Can't you walk in silence for more than a minute?" I laughed.

"No," he replied, smiling. "So where are we going?"

"Where do you think?" I thought that question might silence him for a minute whilst he thought but, alas, he thought aloud.

"Well, we're not going to the hall, so we're definitely not getting lunch and there aren't any lessons on at the moment, so we must be going to the only other place you spend your time, Rosie."

I looked up at him questioningly.

"The library," he grinned. I glared at him. "Am I right?"

"Lucky guess," I replied.

He laughed as we entered the library. "You know your family and everyone else are just going to be gossiping about us at lunch, right?"

"Of course," I answered. "That's why we're up here. I don't want to deal with Lily's constant questions, Fred's glares-"

"-and Roxanne's weird looks?" He asked.

"That girl can be rather creepy sometimes," was my answer.

"So what are you looking for?"

"This newspaper article from just after the War," I threw my bag under a table and wandered towards the library section titled '_Newspapers'_. Scorpius followed, bored.

As I scanned the shelf for the _Daily Prophet_ and the correct year, Scorpius mumbled under his breath. It took me a minute to realise he was singing.

"'_Girl you been givin' me that line so many times it kinda gets like feelin' bad looks good '_,"

"What are you singing?" I smiled at him, curious. I'd never heard the song before. I'd never heard him _sing_ before, not properly, anyway.

"'_That kinda lovin' sends a man right to his grave'_," Scorpius did a dramatic mime involving signing into a microphone and then pointed to a shelf in front of him.

The label was peeling but I could just make out the words '_Daily Prophet: 1998'_ in Madame Pince's tiny handwriting.

"Ah ha," I exclaimed. "Exactly what I wanted."

I picked up the dusty box and turned to walk back to the table where I'd placed my bag. Scorpius followed and then, suddenly, he burst out into song, opening his arms wide to be dramatic.

"'_I go crazy, crazy, baby, I go crazy'_," he spun me round as if dancing.

I laughed, still being spun in circles by Scorpius. "Scor! You're attracting even more attention."

"'_Yeah you drive me crazy, crazy, crazy for you baby'!_"

"Scor!"

"So what?" he grinned. "There's hardly anybody here anyway."

He stopped spinning me round finally and had to catch me a moment later.

Face inches from mine, he grinned. "'_What can I do, honey, I feel like the colour blue…'_"

"Put me down," I laughed as Scorpius helped me back to the table.

"Sorry," he laughed, not sounding sorry at all. "But that song just has to be belted out."

The spinning in my head stopped and I focused on him. "Sure it does."

Our eyes locked and we smiled at each other for a long moment.

"So, what are we looking for," Scorpius pulled his chair around to sit close beside me.

"I was curious about the press around my parents so I thought I'd come up here and do a little research," I smiled impishly.

"Can't you just ask them?" Scorpius asked, peering into the box as I pulled out a few newspaper articles that declared '_You-Know-Who Defeated'_, '_Our Saviour'_ or other headlines that were similar.

I passed a few of the newspapers over to Scorpius to read and then I paused. The next front page headline was a moving clip of my parents standing together at the entrance of Hogwarts. They stood side by side, holding hands. My mother turned to my father, whispered something in his ear and they both burst into fits of laughter. Then the image repeated itself.

I smiled at the young people on the page.

"You look so much like her," Scorpius whispered in my ear. His face was so close to mine that I could feel his breath on my neck.

"I do?" I sighed and leaned towards him. Scorpius grinned and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"You really do. Except your hair's as bright as your fathers and your eyes are really, really blue."

"Like my dad," I smiled.

I glance over my shoulder to check where the librarian was, then, in one quick movement, I ripped the image out of the article.

Scorpius mock gasped. "You rebel," he smirked.

I placed the defaced newspaper article on the bottom of a pile on the table and reached in for the next one. As soon as I saw it I wished I hadn't picked it up.

Scorpius's whole body froze.

"Oh Scor," I turned to him apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry," he spoke through gritted teeth. "I can't help who I'm related to."

This newspaper had a headline that read '_Malfoy's Shame'_ and the moving image showed two adults, both with sad, disturbed looks on their faces. The woman was trying to shield a blonde haired teenage boy from the crowd of paparazzi around them. The older man had one arm gripped tightly to the younger boy and was pulling him roughly through a crowd of people.

"I didn't know anything like this would be in here," I apologised again. It wasn't my fault that there were articles about Scorpius' family, but I felt guilty for not thinking it through.

"There's grandfather," Scorpius spat bitterly, seeming not to hear me.

"Look, Scor, I'll put it away and we'll go get some lunch, yeah?" I offered, trying to keep his mind off of his family. I knew he despised his grandfather, but I also knew he didn't like to talk about it. Not even to Al.

I'd never gotten anything about his relationship with his grandfather out of Scorpius, except that he did not like him. Scorpius just clammed up as soon as anything was mentioned.

"No, no, it's alright," he dived under the desk for his bag as I started reorganising the newspapers to put them back. "You keep on looking, I'm going to… do something."

And he stood up to leave.

"Scor," my voice was quiet but he must have heard something in it because he stopped and turned back around to face me. "Look at this."

The newspaper I had just found was dated _July 3rd__ 1998_. The picture on the front page was of my uncle Harry and Scorpius' father Draco shaking hands. Uncle Harry shook Mr Malfoy's hand with his right and, with his left hand, handed him back a wand. I'd heard the story that it was Draco Malfoy's wand that was used to defeat Voldemort, but this article was the first piece of truth about it. Of course the article didn't mention anything to do with that, it was simply designed to capture the interest of the readers. The headline read '_Malfoy and Potter'_ and the short clip took up most of the page.

I smiled as Scorpius came back over. As soon as he saw the image, he dropped his bag and fell back into the seat he'd previously been sitting in.

Taking the paper gently out of my hands he raised it closer to his face. "I can't believe that's my father," Scorpius seemed rather shocked.

"You shouldn't be ashamed of who you are, Scorpius," I spoke carefully, not wanting to upset him.

I thought he'd be annoyed at my accusation, but he actually sighed. "I know, but sometimes I can't help it."

"Well, if I was a Malfoy I wouldn't care what other people think," I smiled as he placed the news article back in the box and turned to look at me with an odd expression on his face. "In fact, I'd _like _to be a Malfoy just to prove to people that they shouldn't judge others by their relatives."

There was an awkwardness between us then for a few long seconds.

"What do you-"

"Hypothetically," I clarified quickly.

"Right," Scorpius nodded formally to me.

Then we both laughed.

"Come on, let's go get some lunch," I grabbed my bag as Scorpius put the box of old _Daily Prophet_'s back on the shelf and we headed down to lunch together.

* * *

><p>The Great Hall was only half full but all my relatives and the rest of our usual group of friends were sitting at the Gryffindor table together, evidently gossiping.<p>

How did I know this? As soon as Scorpius and I approached they all stopped talking. Like them, the whole Great Hall had been quieter than normal.

"What's… up?" Scorpius broke the silence, grinning at me from across the table as he took a seat next to Roxanne and Lily.

"Oh, nothing, we were just-," Dom started.

"We were talking about you two," Lily interrupted.

"Lily!"

"Well done," Fred laughed sarcastically.

"Well, we knew _that_," I told them.

"Yeah, it was kind of obvious," Scorpius added through a mouthful of food.

"So… how long have you been dating?" Roxanne asked.

"Roxie!"

"Well, if Lily can come right out and say things why can't I?" Roxanne defended herself.

"Not long," I muttered, embarrassed.

"Uncle Ron is _so_ going to kill you," Fred laughed. I was glad he wasn't trying to beat Scorpius up, but I was irritated that he was laughing at how my dad would inevitably act.

"Which one of them?" Al joined in the apparent fun.

"Both of them," Angie agreed. I realised I hadn't seen her in a while. She was looking particularly ill at the moment.

"Where have _you _been?" I asked her.

"Hospital Wing," she shrugged. "It seems Herbology is actually a pretty dangerous subject when you place your hand in a man-eating plant and forget to wear protective gloves."

"Angie, you're so dumb," I laughed.

"What about you?" She replied, helping herself to pie and pumpkin juice. "Why didn't you tell me you already had a boyfriend? It would have saved me months of worrying to find you one."

"We haven't been together for _months,_" I clarified quickly.

"Since New Years, right?" Fred asked. Scorpius and I avoided his eyes and both focused on our food. "That's what Alice told me…"

"Erm…," I started.

"_Before_ New Years?" Molly exclaimed. "Merlin, and we all thought you couldn't keep a secret."

"Well, I didn't really know until the ball," I mumbled.

"Christmas?" Al looked irritated now. "You've been together since Christmas?"

"Not '_together'_," Scorpius quickly told him, the question having been directed at him. "It just sort of… happened."

"Things don't just _happen_ with Rose," Dom laughed.

"Yeah, she makes informed decisions that take about a week," Lucy agreed.

"Unless she's under the influence of alcohol," Alice mumbled, not quite as quietly as she thought.

"You got my sister drunk?" Hugo exploded, having been previously quiet. Al and Fred also looked very annoyed at this point. I glared at Alice for mentioning that I had been drunk.

"Hey, she threw herself at me!" Scorpius raised his hands, evidently thinking that was a way out of the situation.

Fred, Al and Hugo all turned their glares on me, saving Scorpius from their looks, but gaining him glares from me.

"Scorpius!" I slapped him round the head.

"Well you did!"

"Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy," He looked rather scared. "You are in a load of trouble."

There was silence for a moment. Fred, Al and Hugo all glared at me in a _'I can't believe you did something like that'_ way. The girls all looked amused. Dom, Lucy and Roxanne each gave me a look that meant they would have done the same thing as me - thrown themselves at Scorpius.

Then Al snorted. "Your middle name's _Hyperion_?"

Everybody else laughed. It was Scorpius' turn to glare at me. "Rose!"

"Sorry!" I smiled in a _'Please forgive your loving girlfriend'_ way. He surrendered after a minute, shaking his head.

"Fine," Scorpius kissed me on the forehead. "You're forgiven."

Al and Hugo were glaring at him.

"Just because we know you're together now, that doesn't mean we want to see it," Al looked at Scorpius when he spoke.

"Get over yourself, Al," I snapped at him and, just to prove my point, I pulled Scorpius' face towards me and kissed him. Scorpius, along with everybody else, was rather shocked at my out-of-character act, but kissed me back nonetheless.

"I never thought I'd see that," Dom was the only one, other than Alice, who didn't look completely shocked.

"What, did you all think we were lying when we said we were together?" I snapped at the rest of them.

For some reason, I was suddenly really annoyed with all their questions and judging and '_Merlin, it's such a shock'_ attitudes. If I wanted to be with Scorpius they'd have to deal with it.

The bell signalling the end of lunch rang at that moment. Instead of being annoyed at me for snapping that them, my family got up in silence, for once, and left for their next class.

* * *

><p>The next few weeks flew by, partly because we had been getting so much homework meaning I spent most of my time reminding my cousins to do their own work as well as doing my own and partly because my evenings no longer consisted of watching round corners in case somebody found Scorpius and I together.<p>

My detentions cleaning the potions rooms were forgotten by our old Potions professor and we got away with not going after four or five evenings.

None of my cousins really mentioned my relationship with Scorpius anymore. We weren't extremely open about our relationship and, during the day, the only indication that we were dating were our intertwined hands.

Hugo was a little curt with Scorpius for a while, but it wasn't in his nature to get angry, especialyl for very long. He _had_ charmed his hair pink for a day in irritation at him datingn his sister, but that was it. I think it was because I was older than him, _I_ had always looked after _him_, and he was used to me being independant.

The rumours followed us - Hogwarts seemed to never be bored of talking about us.

The next Hogsmeade trip arrived quickly and everyone was excited for a chance to get out of the castle and into the village. Of course, this Hogsmeade trip was welcomed with anxiety from those going on first dates, dread form those without dates and mirth from those happily in a relationship.

Love was most definitely in the air this year. Everywhere I went people were getting together for Valentine's Day or guys were suddenly getting up the nerve to ask girls out. Hugo, to my surprise, was asked to Madam Pudifoot's by a Hufflepuff girl in her sixth year. My brother was rather good looking, I admit, but because he was so laid back and shy he hardly ever spoke to girls.

I received letters from my mother and Grandma Molly telling me that Teddy and Victoire had had a wonderful honeymoon and that Teddy couldn't wait to see me in person to tell me all about it. My mother wrote telling me that I seemed happier and happier in the letters I'd been sending her. That would have been a perfect time for me to tell her that I was dating Scorpius, but I didn't. I felt bad that I hadn't mentioned it to my parents, having already told Scorpius that they knew.

I also wondered briefly why they hadn't written to me about it yet, either. After all, my family were bound to tell them right?

Wrong, as it turns out.

Actually, Al informed me the week after he'd punched Scorpius in history of Magic that my cousins were waiting for me to tell my father in person, apparently hoping that my father's anger would be good entertainment.

_What kind cousins I had_.

February the fourteenth started with rain. I woke up to cloudy, windy, rainy weather that looked as if it would never stop, even for Valentine's Day.

Skipping down to breakfast with a neatly wrapped present, I joined my family in a happy mood. Scorpius hadn't arrived yet, but I knew he'd sit with his Slytherin friends for breakfast because it was his birthday and he sat with them every year on his birthday - they hardly ever saw him. Besides, the rest of us (his Gryffindor friends) would see him for the rest of the day.

Al spared me a short half hearted glare. He had been causing arguments almost everyday about Scorpius and I. He never picked a fight with me, only Scorpius… However, I always intervened. He needed to understand that if he didn't like our relationship he should tell us both.

Most of the time it started with a small, inappropriate comment which then escalated until Scorpius, Al, me or all three of us walked off in a mood. The next time we saw each other we simply didn't mention the arguments.

Al was being unreasonable. I didn't cause problems like that when he started dating my best friend, did I? Granted, Alice isn't a _Malfoy_ and I wasn't as bothered about it as Al was. What annoyed me was simple - Al was perfectly fine with us all being friends with Scorpius (he was even best friends with him) but _dating _Scorpius meant '_Oh no, you're dating a Malfoy!'_.

I shook my head. I just had to forget about it and wait until Al realised how stupid he was being. Everybody else in my family was fine with us.

Alice sat practically on Al's lap, laughing and being so sweet that I swear it put me off my food. Lucy, Dom and Fred were talking about what they were going to buy in Hogsmeade. Dom joked she would buy her sister a dummy and pram for _'the near future'_. Roxanne, Hugo, Lily, Louis and I were talking about visiting Uncle George at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes in Hogsmeade when I looked over at the Slytherin table and saw my boyfriend, looking particularly handsome in jeans and a shirt, being given birthday bumps by his friends.

"See you later," I told the others as I picked up Scorpius' birthday present and bounded over to the Slytherin table.

Luckily, Scorpius' eighteen birthday bumps were over by the time I arrived and his friends had gone back to their own seats, still laughing at him as he rubbed his arms, complaining that they hurt.

"The Gryffindor Girlfriend's here," his friend Charlie Zabini laughed as I came and sat on Scorpius' lap.

Scorpius jumped in shock, not realising I had been standing behind him, and then wrapped his arms around me.

"Happy birthday," I breathed, kissing him on the cheek.

"Awww," his friends chorused mockingly.

Scorpius and I both shot them '_Shut Up'_ looks as Scorpius swore at them using his fingers.

"Thank you," he told me as he turned away from the others and took the present I handed him.

"You can't open it now," I told him mysteriously, letting him have the present even though he couldn't open it.

"What?" He looked like a child who'd just been told Santa didn't exist. "Why not?"

"You'll see," I grinned. Then I pulled him to his feet. "Come on, you're so slow."

"It's my birthday," he complained as I dragged him out of the hall.

"That doesn't mean you have to walk in slow motion," I laughed.

"Yes it does," he pulled me round to face him, placing his hands on my waist, as we stood in line by the doors to Hogwarts, waiting to give our names to Filch. "It's my birthday."

"Fine," I grinned, wrapping my hands round his neck and reaching up on my tiptoes to kiss him. "Because it's your birthday you can be as slow as you like, but it's also Valentine's Day, so you have to be nice to your girlfriend."

Me stood in silence for a moment as we waited for the people in front of us to move forwards.

"I've never had a girlfriend on Valentine's Day," he told me as I turned to move up in the queue, dragging him forwards by the hand.

"You haven't?" I took the opportunity to make fun of him. "But I thought you were Scorpius Malfoy, Godly Man, with all the girls falling at your feet?"

"I am," he joked. "But I always found girls so trivial and they're even worse on Valentine's Day. I used to just hang out with Al."

"Aww, how sweet," I laughed. "But now Al has Alice."

"And I have you," he grinned as we reached Filch.

Mrs Norris, Filch's old cat sat by his feet, too old to move much anymore. She hissed half-heartedly at me and Scorpius as we gave our names to Filch and stepped into the cold, windy air.

I pulled my jacket tighter around me and shivered. Scorpius zipped up his own leather jacket and pulled me towards him.

"You'll freeze in that jacket," he reprimanded me. "Don't you have something warmer?"

"Only a winter coat," I told him. "And that's too big."

"What if you get a cold?" He fussed.

"Then I'll be ill, but I'll get over it," I mumbled into his jacket as we walked out of the Hogwarts gates.

"Well, if you are ill, don't blame me,"

"And don't say '_I told you so_',"

"Oh, I will," he laughed. "Where do you want to go first?"

"I need to see my Uncle George," I told him. "He wrote to me yesterday saying that he had a surprise for me at the shop."

"Sounds good," Scorpius agreed.

We walked down the lane leading to Hogsmeade with Scorpius telling me all about the presents he'd gotten from his stupidly-rich family and trying to shield me from the wind. He had his right hand round my shoulder to pull me towards him and his left was pulled across his body to hold mine.

The first shop that we came to, being the one on the outskirts of the village and down a side street leading to the main High Street that students often took as a short cut, was Madam Pudifoots.

I stared at the floating golden cherubs that Madam Pudifoot hires each year without fail. They tossed handfuls of pink heart confetti over a couple as they entered the shop. It was already rather busy, even though it wasn't even ten o'clock yet.

Scorpius saw me staring.

"Do you want to go there later?"

I spun back to face him. "Oh, Merlin, no. It's like my living hell in there."

"Thank Merlin," Scorpius exhaled. "Me neither."

I laughed. "Why did you ask then?"

"Well, if you wanted to go then I wouldn't have minded."

I smiled at him as it started to rain. "Come on, let's get to Uncle George's before we get soaked."

Unfortunately, it was that rain that picks up suddenly and drenches you in a matter of seconds and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes was located at the opposite end of the High Street.

By the time we arrived at my uncle's shop, we were both drenched.

I pulled Scorpius into the busy shop by the hand and we made it to the counter surprisingly easily. It was normally completely jam-packed so today, being mildly busy, I was surprised.

"Uncle Georgie!" I yelled as I reached the counter.

My uncle, wearing bright magenta robes, was busy talking to his wife, Angelina, but as soon as he heard me calling him he turned. I ran round the counter and jumped into his arms.

"Rosie posie!" He grinned. "How are you?"

"I'm great," I replied as he placed me back on my feet. He was the only one who got away with calling me that, just as I was the only one (apart from his mother) who could call him Georgie. "How's business?"

"Much better now that Hogwarts has been let loose for the day."

I laughed. "Hey Auntie Angie."

"Hey Rose," she grinned, sighed at her husband and then wandered off to see to some customers.

"Hey, it's Scorpius," George exclaimed, only mildly shocked, shaking hands enthusiastically with him. My uncles, especially the trouble-maker ones, liked Scorpius immensely. I was proud to say that none of my family judged Scorpius for being a Malfoy.

"Hey, Mr Weasley," Scorpius smiled at the friendly welcoming.

"Please, Scorpius, call me George," my uncle laughed. "Mr Weasley's my dad… and all my brothers."

"Sure," Scorpius agreed happily.

"So… where's everybody else?" George asked me.

"Al's out with Alice and the others are looking for baby things to buy Teddy and Victoire," I laughed. "Dom's certain that her sister will be pregnant in the next few months."

"And you two aren't with them because…?" George grinned impishly at us. He knew we were together. He might not have graduated school with more than three OWL's, but he wasn't stupid.

"Because… it's Valentine's Day," I mumbled.

"Ron will so kill you," George laughed.

I slapped my uncle on the arm, "Don't say that!"

"You didn't tell your parents?" Scorpius suddenly asked.

"Erm…" I winced. "I guess I forgot…"

"Rose!" Scorpius sighed, irritated. "You said you had."

"Well, she lied Scor," George grinned at my situation.

"Thank you, uncle, dear," I shot my second favourite uncle a murderous look (of course he thought he was my favourite but, come on, I was related to Harry Potter, for Merlin's sake - that man was just loveable).

"Are you ever going to tell them?" Scorpius sighed.

I walked into his arms, "I will," I mumbled pathetically.

"Promise?" He seemed unsure.

"Promise," I grinned. Finally, my boyfriend smiled and hugged me.

I turned back to my amused uncle. "So what was this surprise you had for me?"

"Oh, yeah," George's eyes lit up. "Mr Surprise!"

And then one of my favourite people in the whole world stepped out of the back room, eating a doughnut.

"Teddy!" I ran at my cousin-in-law. "You're back!"

He chuckled, and so did Scorpius. "I'm back from my honeymoon!"

"I can't believe how tanned you look," I exclaimed as I stepped back to look at him. He was wearing a magenta robe, evidently helping George out was his requirement for coming down. If you visited George, you were expected to help him with business - he was _that_ busy. Teddy had changed his hair and eyes to match the magenta robes. He was a walking, talking pygmy puff.

"That's what happens when you spend six weeks in Spain," he laughed. _Or when you are a metamorphosis,_ I thought. _Nobody else got _that_ tanned, even if they were in the sun for six weeks._

"I can't believe you had a six week honeymoon," I laughed. I still found it unbelievable.

"Well, why not?"

"I suppose so," I grinned. I couldn't help it.

"Scorpius, my man," Teddy shook hands with Scorpius, then they hugged. "How are you?"

"Never better," he replied. "How about you?"

"I've got a beautiful wife, what more could I want?" He smiled. "Only don't tell her I said that, or she'll be expecting gifts."

We both laughed. Teddy and Victoire had a great relationship - they just understood each other.

"I better go, Rosie," George suddenly interrupted. "The shops getting busy."

"I'll help," Teddy told him. "I suppose I better do something other than eat all your doughnuts."

"We better go too," Scorpius turned to me as he took my hand. "I told the Al's that we'd meet them in the Three Broomsticks at half ten."

"OK," I waved goodbye to my uncle and Teddy as we left.

I turned round just in time to see Teddy raise his eyebrows and give me a look that clearly meant he knew that I was dating Scorpius. I stick my tongue out at him.

Scorpius and I made it to the Three Broomsticks in less than a minute (we may have ran, but that was beside the point), but we were still wet because it was raining so hard. The bottom of my favourite pair of jeans were soaked, but I didn't care. I was having a good day so far. Al and Alice hadn't arrived yet so we bought four butterbeers and found a booth for four in one of the back corners.

Madame Rosmerta's daughter Ginger had decorated the place with love heart balloons, red table clothes and confetti which fell from the ceiling every few minutes.

"This is nice," I whispered across the table to Scorpius.

"Ginger really likes the seasons," Scorpius grinned.

We both leaned across the table to talk quietly as the tables around us filled up with people. Scorpius took my hand.

"You know a few weeks ago when we were looking at those newspaper articles?" He began.

He looked nervous, which made me nervous. "Yeah."

"Do you remember what you said about being a Malfoy?" His lips twitched at a smile but I could tell he was trying to be serious.

I blushed. "You know how I meant it…"

"Yeah, but… did you… if…," his sentence deteriorated to nothing.

I raised my eyebrows. "Scor, you're making no sense."

"If we were older would you consider marrying me?" He blurted, looking down at our hands.

I didn't speak for a full three minutes.

"Rose, you're scaring me," Scorpius finally mumbled.

"Of course I am!" I exploded. "You just…"

"I wasn't _proposing _to you!" Scorpius sighed, rolling his eyes. "I just… I didn't think we'd have a future because of who were are… but then you said… what you said and I thought '_Why wouldn't we'_?"

I sighed, smiling.

"I'm sorry, Scor. You know what?" I placed my other hand over his on the table. "You're right."

"I… I am?"

"Yeah, I mean, why shouldn't we have a future if we want one?"

"And I didn't just completely freak you out?" Scorpius checked.

"Well, yes, but I'll get over it," I laughed.

I leaned forwards and kissed him gently. His free hand came round the back of my neck and pulled me towards him. The kiss deepened and I thought about breaking it off, but then, what the hell, I deserved a moment of happiness, right?

Both my hands found their way to his hair and I pulled him closer across the table.

"Like I want to see that!" Al's voice came from beside us.

"Then go away," I snapped impatiently and then went back to snogging my boyfriend. I felt Scorpius' lips twist up into a smile.

"Rose!" Alice exclaimed, half amused, half shocked.

"Alright, alright," I sighed as I leaned back in my chair, taking Scorpius' hands in mine again.

Alice sat beside me and Al, whilst glaring at Scorpius, sat next to his best friend.

"What's got into you lately, Rose?" Alice laughed. "You're much less… innocent."

"You better not touch her again," Al growled to Scorpius.

Scorpius looked surprised. "She's my girlfriend."

"Don't get me started on that!" Al almost shouted.

"What is your problem, Albus?" I glared at my cousin.

"What is _my _problem?" Al stood up. "You know what Scorpius is like, Rosie! He'll dump you as soon as some girl even blinks at him."

"Hey!" Scorpius stood up too. "Don't you dare make accusations like that, Al."

"Why not?" Al and Scorpius were almost nose to nose (or they would have been if Scorpius hadn't been taller than Al). "It's true!"

"It's not true!" Scorpius shouted. The tables around us had gone quiet. Madame Rosmerta looked on nervously from the bar at the far end of the room. She was quick to spot trouble.

"Of course it is!" Al snorted. "You're a player, Scorpius. Always have been, always will be."

"Things are different now," Scorpius growled.

"And why would they be?" Al sneered.

"Because I love Rose!" Scorpius yelled so load that even the people sitting at the bar on the opposite side of the room turned to listen.

Al was quiet. He looked shocked and confused.

"You know what, I'm not sitting here with you being all judgemental. You can apologise when you get off your high horse and realise that you're not better than me just because you're a Potter."

"Scorpius, I didn't mean-" Al started carefully, seeming to realise what he'd done.

"Of course you did, Al. It seems like you don't even know me anymore," Scorpius was evidently hurt by what Al had said. Turning to Alice he tried to calm his nerves by saying, "Enjoy your Valentine's Day."

He stormed out of the Three Broomsticks.

"What an idiot," Al muttered under his breath.

"Shut up, Al," Alice glared at him. "Can't you see that this is _your _fault?"

"What?" Al genuinely looked confused. "What did I do?"

"You _completely_ over reacted and called your best friend a player because he was kissing his girlfriend!"

"But he-"

"No, Al!" I tried not to grin at how Alice was yelling at him. I was annoyed with Al almost as much as Scorpius was. "This is your fault. What you're going to do is you're going to spend Valentine's Day with your loving girlfriend, buying her all the gifts she wants - because, let's face it, you're loaded - then you're going to go back to Hogwarts, suck it up and apologise to your best friend for insulting him and wish him a happy birthday. Is that clear?"

Al gulped.

"Thank you, Alice," I hugged my friend then turned coolly to my cousin. "Goodbye, Albus."

"Where are you going?" Al turned in his seat as I walked off.

"I'm going to spend my day with somebody I love and respect."

And with that I marched off to find Scorpius, leaving Al with Alice.

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed the ending, I thought I really needed something new, so there it is. Al and Scorpius aren't very happy with each other.<strong>

**Who do you think is to blame for the argument?**

**Did you like seeing George?**

**Thanks so so so much for reading!**


	20. The Truth Comes To Light

**You guys have been, and are being, wonderful with this! Seriously, you're amazingness makes me upload so quickly! I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's getting to the stuff you've all been waiting for... parents reactions, well it's Draco's reaction. Ron's is in the next chapter. I gave both Ron and Draco a go. :D**

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><p><em>Roses' POV<em>

"Scorpius!" I shouted over the wind as I hurried out of the warm Three Broomsticks. I could see his retreating figure a few shops down the road. "Scorpius, stop walking off, you numpty!"

That caught his attention. Scorpius turned around, saw me hurrying after him and then stepped into the shelter of Honeydukes to wait for me out of the rain. By the time I'd caught up with him, Scorpius was smiling.

"What?"

"I thought you'd stay with Al and Alice," he admitted.

I shook my head. "Your mind works in strange ways, Scorpius."

He smiled a little. "I'm sorry I shouted at your cousin."

"Don't apologise," I told him, taking his hand. "Al deserved it."

"Yeah, but…"

"What?" I asked. "You can be annoyed at him, Scor."

"It's not that," he told me as we started to walk down the high street, shielded by the canopies from the shops. The rain plummeted down on the plastic sheets so hard that I was glad we weren't walking right in it. "It's just… Al and I haven't fought before."

I hesitated before I spoke. "Ever?"

"Never," he sighed.

"So, this is, like, your first fight?" I asked slowly. He nodded. "Damn it, Scorpius!"

He looked surprised by my outburst, "W-What?"

"You're telling me that you have never, ever argued with your best friend, over anything, despite all the past between your families… and then you go and argue over _me_?"

He was evidently unsure of what was happening, "What's so wrong with that?"

"Scor!" I sighed, _How could he not get what I was talking about?_ "You just argued over _me_!"

"So?"

"So, I'm just a _girl_!"

I turned to look at him, stopping outside Madam Pudifoots. Scorpius started to laugh, and then he didn't stop. I stood there with my arms folded across my chest. After a minute or two my patience ran out.

"Scorpius!" I pushed him into the downpour of rain to get his attention.

"I'm sorry," he managed to choke out, finally controlling his laughter into quiet chuckles. The rain poured down on him so hard that he got soaked. I had to literally force my eyes away from his chest, where the rain had caused his shirt to stick to it. His jacket lay wrapped up over his arm. "It's just… you are the only girl I will possibly ever know, Rose Weasley, who will say something like that about yourself."

I didn't know what to say, so I stayed silent. Scorpius looked at me closely - serious now. He sighed, gently pulling me towards him, and brought one hand up to stroke my cheek.

"You don't realise how much more you mean to some people," he told me as we both stood in the rain. "So stop saying foolish things. You are worth fighting for."

I blushed. Then I realised the double meaning to his words - he wasn't saying he didn't mind arguing with Al over me, he was saying he didn't care what our families thought about us.

"Come on," Scorpius pulled my hand gently. "Let's find somewhere warm to dry off."

"We're at the end of the street," I told him. "It's nothing for a few miles until Hogwarts."

Scorpius looked around. A floating Cherub caught his eye.

"You've got to be joking?" I complained.

He smirked. "Nope, not one bit."

And then he dragged me into the warm little shop. Many students had left by now, preferring to get the whole 'romance' part of the day out of the way before running around all the shops in Hogsmeade. There was only one other couple sitting almost in the opposite corner of the room. Scorpius and I sat down at a table near the door, not wanting to drench the whole shop by walking through it. A cherub floated over us and rained handfuls of scented confetti over our heads. Scorpius fake coughed and tried to shake the tiny heart pieces out of his hair by shaking them all over me and across our table.

"Stop!" I laughed, chucking handfuls back at him.

He obliged and opened the menu. Madam Pudifoot hardly sold any food, and what little she did sell wasn't very good. We opted for two mugs of Hot Chocolate to warm us up - it wasn't as good as the butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks, but then nothing much was.

"I'm sorry you fought with Al on your birthday," I told him quietly as our drinks were placed on our table.

Scorpius looked surprised. Instead of saying anything he leaned forwards and kissed me. As he pulled back my body went with him for a few seconds, prolonging the kiss.

"Do I get to open my present now?" He asked, excited. He didn't even mention what I'd said, but I didn't mind - we could forget about the argument for now.

I chuckled, "I suppose so."

He beamed like a small child as he took the neatly wrapped gift from his pocket. I nodded to indicate that he could open it now. Scorpius tried to unwrap it neatly but he couldn't. Eventually he shot me an apologetic look before ripping the tape off and untying the ribbon. He opened the box, and then looked up at me questioningly.

"It's empty," he stated, although I knew he meant it as a question.

"It… is," I agreed, trying not too smile too much. He didn't know what to say. I sipped at my hot chocolate. Then, just as he opened his mouth to speak, I interrupted him. "I didn't know what to get you," I explained. "So I thought, I'd let you choose."

"Let me choose?" He smirked. "You realise that means I could ask for _anything_."

"I realise that, yes," I smirked back at him.

"Anything," he checked once more - I managed to detect the small innuendo in his sentence.

"Anything," I whispered seductively. I knew he was enjoying this little game we were playing.

He thought whilst we drank our drinks. By the time I had finished my drink he seemed to have made up his mind, but he didn't say anything. No doubt he'd drag me to a Quidditch match.

"You know," He started after a minute of staring into my eyes. "I should be allowed two presents, technically… because it is Valentine's Day too."

I laughed. "What do you want as your second present?"

He raised his index finger and motioned for me to come closer. I sighed dramatically, pretending I was fed up, but I wasn't really.

I thought that he would kiss me, and he did. But I didn't think that he would _kiss_ me, kiss me, the way he did when we first kissed at the Christmas Ball or after we played Truth or Dare at Christmas.

He pulled me tightly to him, one of his hands resting on the back of my neck, keeping me to him, and the other found its way to the small of my back. I knew he wouldn't have done it if he'd thought I wouldn't have let him.

When we broke apart we were both breathless.

"My birthday only comes once a year, right?" Scorpius spoke after a few moments.

"Unless you're the Queen."

"Damn it," he breathed.

We both started to laugh.

"But I _am _your girlfriend all year round, not just on special occasions," I pointed out. "Besides, that wasn't your present. Think about it and let me know."

"It may be some time, I'm not the most decisive," He warned. Reaching across the table, he took my hands as I grinned.

Madam Pudifoot chose that moment to appear with our bill.

"You two want to slow down there," She commented inappropriately. Scorpius leaned back, face slightly red from embarrassment, creating space between us.

As soon as Madam Pudifoot disappeared I turned to Scorpius and whispered, "Let's get out of here."

He threw some money on the table (his family were probably more loaded than mine) and we hurried out of the shop together.

"Where to now?" I asked, thoroughly tired out from the day.

"Hogwarts," was Scorpius' reply as he towed me by the hand down the road that led back to the castle.

Scorpius and I spent the rest of the day in the Gryffindor common room, and even, for a little while, wandering round Hogwarts grounds.

We only saw four other students above third year during the course of the day so it was rather peaceful spending time together in Gryffindor Tower.

We played Exploding Snap, of course, and Wizards Chess (which I won) and Scorpius even tried to teach me a few lines to some of the songs of old muggle bands that he liked. Eventually we put on the radio and just talked quietly whilst the music played.

More than once 'A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love' by Celestina Warbeck played, but Scorpius only managed to get me to dance with him the one time.

By the time students started arriving back to Hogwarts the sky was turning dark and Scorpius and I felt thoroughly at home and comfortable on the sofa.

My cousins all arrived in one big, extremely loud group - the first of the Gryffindors to get back. One moment Scorpius and I were alone on the sofa, _busy_, and the next, they were all there - even Louis.

"You have _got_ to stop doing that," Alice snapped at us as she threw herself onto one of the armchairs.

We both jumped a mile, Scorpius buttoning up the shirt that had managed to become unbuttoned, and turned to face them. Almost every member of my family were looking at me with expressions a mixture of disappointment and shock, and maybe even amusement.

"We were here first," Scorpius told them, not at all embarrassed.

"Which brings me to '_Where have you two been?'_," Lily grinned.

"Here," Scorpius' lips twitched into a smile.

"Doing… stuff," I smirked at Scorpius' cheeky expression.

"Like we want to know that," Angie laughed.

"Where's… Al?" I asked slowly, noticing he hadn't appeared with the rest of them.

"He went for a walk," Alice sighed. Then she smiled. "But look at all the cool stuff he got me!"

We all laughed as she produced four or five bags full of miscellaneous items.

"You're lucky he _wants_ to buy stuff for you," Roxanne told her.

"I know," Alice grinned. "But it's not all for me."

She produced one small package which she tossed to Scorpius.

"Thanks," Scorpius looked surprised. He opened it and inside the small box was broomstick wax and Quidditch goggles. Scorpius laughed loudly. "How did you know I needed these?"

"Al got them," Alice told him.

Scorpius immediately turned serious. "Really? Maybe I should go talk to him…"

"No, let him come to you," Fred mumbled from the floor. He'd been lying right across the carpet by the fireplace with his eyes shut, almost as if he was asleep.

"But… how is he going to find me if I'm here, in the Gryffindor Common Room, when I'm actually a Slytherin?"

None of us could answer that. He had a point - this would be the last place Al would look, if he _was_ looking for Scorpius, that was.

"Go," I sighed, shoving Scorpius. He pulled me up with him so that we were both standing. Whilst reaching to get his bag from off the floor he cupped my face with his hand and kissed me roughly. "Go," I mumbled again, this time half heartedly.

"See you later," my boyfriend grinned at me, and then he hurried out of the common room.

"Don't even comment," I mumbled to them all before I'd even turned around to see my relatives expressions.

As usual, Lily and Roxanne couldn't resist opening their big mouths.

"You've _really_ come out of your shell recently, Rose."

"That boy is _fine_."

I glared at them both as I flopped back onto the sofa.

* * *

><p><em>Scorpius' POV<em>

I couldn't find Al. I had been walking round the castle for twenty minutes, but I still hadn't found him. I'd looked everywhere plausible - so where was he?

I stopped walking. This was getting me nowhere.

Why did I have to be the one to go looking for Al? He had started the argument by shouting at me about Rose.

Granted, I maybe shouldn't have had my hands all over her in a public place where I knew he'd be… but still! Why couldn't Al see that we were happy together, and we don't care what anybody says about our relationship?

Well, _I_ don't care what anybody else thinks… Rose, on the other hand, I wasn't so sure. She'd told me she just wanted to ignore everybody else's opinions yet she was the one who'd tried to hide our relationship the longest and who _still _hadn't told her parents.

_Neither have you_, the annoying voice in the back of my mind hissed at me.

OK, so I hadn't told my parents yet but… I knew how they'd react. My mother would be all '_How sweet, Scorpy has a girlfriend'_ which is not the opinion I want from my mother. I'm eighteen now and she still treats my like a baby half the time. Maybe explaining to her that I was in a serious relationship for once would show her how mature I really am.

And that's just my mother. My father would completely explode. Everybody thinks Ron Weasley is bad… but Draco Malfoy? He lived with Lucius… and, if there's one thing my father got from his father, that's his hot temper.

And his dashing good looks, I suppose.

I walked only a few steps past the doorway to an empty classroom before I paused, and then backtracked those steps so that I was facing the door again.

There was glass that allowed me to see into the classroom. Al was sitting on the teacher's desk, legs crossed and eyes closed.

Slowly, quietly, I pushed the door open, praying that it wouldn't squeak. It didn't.

Creeping up behind Al, who hadn't moved at all, I grabbed both his shoulders in one sudden movement.

As predicted, he went flying off the desk and spun round to face me as quick as lightening. Al had his wand pointing at me, supposedly in case I was an enemy (not that Al had any enemies), but I was prepared for that - I had mine ready too.

Laughing hysterically, I lowered my wand.

"I wish you could see your face," I laughed. Al didn't find it funny.

"What do you want?" He snapped.

I sobered up immediately. "Well, I was hoping for an apology and maybe even a happy birthday from my best friend, but it seems he's not here right now. What is wrong with you today, Al?"

"There's nothing wrong with me," he huffed.

"Well you've been really grumpy all day."

"Look, Scorpius, just because I've been _'grumpy'_ with you, doesn't mean I've been like that with everybody else," I don't know how annoyed he was, but he used air quotations - not a good sign.

"So why me then, Al?" I asked. "Because I happen to be the one dating your cousin?"

"Well, yes."

"That is so hypocritical of you, Al. You are my best friend, yet your cousin can't date me because I'm bad news. I'm surprised you let yourself be friends with me."

"I'm not trying to be awkward-"

"But you _are_ being awkward. And you're making no sense. Why can't I date Rose? Why not? What's so wrong with that?"

Al hesitated, then whispered. "Because you'll hurt her, Scor."

"No I-"

"You've hurt your other so called _'girlfriends'_ by cheating on them all," More air quotations.

"They weren't girlfriends," I argued. "They just wanted to snog me so that they looked good."

"It doesn't matter because you're just going to treat Rose the same, Scor, and I don't want you hurting her. Ever."

"I'm not going to hurt her," I argued again. "I love her."

"You think that by saying the words I'll believe you?" Al scoffed.

"Well, what else can I do?"

"I don't know," Al sat back down on one of the desks. "You figure it out."

I stepped forwards. "Listen to me, Al. I love Rose. And not in that stupid teenager _I'm-in-love-with-you-one-minute-but-in-the-next-I-hate-you_ way, but in the real way. As in, I'd tell her my deepest, darkest secrets if she asked or I'd make myself look stupid to make her smile. I'd… I'd run away with her if she asked me too."

"That's a stupid example," Al protested.

"Why?" I asked quickly. "It's true."

"Look, Scor, you just need to ask yourself one question and if the answer's _'no'_ then you know for yourself what to do - Could you see yourself together for a long time? Because if you can't you are both setting yourself up in a serious load of trouble for nothing because it won't matter what anybody else says, because you'll have no future."

"Why are you treating this relationship so seriously?" I sighed. "Do _you_ normally start a relationship by asking yourself whether you would marry the other person?"

"That's different," he retorted. "You and Rose will cause chaos when everyone finds out, so if it's not _serious_, it's not worth it. Uncle Ron…"

"Yes, I've heard over and over again how he'll yell and be angry and everything, but what am I supposed to do about that?"

I half wanted an answer from Al. He just remained silent for a while.

"Look, I really am sorry that I overreacted earlier, Scor," Al finally said. "And I'm sorry that I ruined your birthday."

I grinned. "You didn't ruin my birthday."

Al and I hugged. And that was it - problem solved. As we headed back to Gryffindor Tower we began to talk as if we hadn't argued at all.

"So are you coming to mine this half term?"

"Can't," I sighed. Al looked at me questioningly. "Some distant cousin of mine's getting married and I have to be there. To be honest I think my grandfather just wants to force me to date a pureblood."

"Man, he's going to go mental when he finds out you're dating a Weasley," Al looked liked he was going to smile for a minute, then he thought better of it.

"Well I'm definitely not going to tell him," I smiled. "It's none of his business anyway."

"You really hate him, don't you?" Al spoke carefully. My face hardened and I didn't reply. "Come on, Scorpius, you can't just ignore it every time I mention him."

"Why not?" I argued. I was perfectly happy ignoring every mention of my grandfathers relationship with me.

"Because it's not healthy to just bottle up your emotions," Al had his answer ready and I had a feeling that he'd already thought this conversation through.

"Alright, _Dr Phil_," I sighed sarcastically. Luckily we made it to the Grand Staircase then. I left Al to wander up to Gryffindor Tower and headed down towards the dungeons.

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><p><em>Rose's POV<em>

_Chaos_ was the word that greeted me when the Hogwarts Express arrived at Platform Nine and Three Quarters in the afternoon of February 21st.

It had been a week since I promised Scorpius I would tell my parents about us, thus I'd had a whole week to prepare what I would say to them.

I still hadn't thought of anything.

It was surprisingly sunny today so I had taken off my jumper. I'd, therefore, left it on the train, being a Weasley and all. When I returned to the platform, jumper over my arms, Scorpius and Louis had already retrieved my trunk for me. I thanked them both just before Louis disappeared to find his sister and turned to Scorpius.

He took my hand. "I wish I could stay with you."

"I do too," I grinned. "But it's only a week and I'm sure we'll both survive."

"I'm sure we will," Scorpius laughed. He bent down to kiss me but two figures appeared right at that moment. We flew apart faster than ever.

I sighed in relief. "I thought you were my dad for a minute then," I mumbled to Teddy.

He laughed but Victoire spoke first. "You two just _scream_ guilty all over."

"Thanks, Tory," I felt my heart sink.

"Is it really that obvious?" Scorpius asked as Dom and Louis appeared.

"Is what?" Tory's eyebrows knitted together. "I said you looked guilty but I don't know what about yet."

"Teddy didn't tell you?" I couldn't stop Scorpius from saying.

Tory turned to him, curious. "What didn't you tell me?"

"That… we're having… casserole tonight?" Teddy was such a bad liar.

"That Rose and Malfoy are _actually_ a couple," Louis added his input.

"Oh," Tory hesitated but then shrugged. "I knew that already."

"You _knew_?" Everybody but me was surprised.

"Yeah, since Christmas," Tory laughed. "It's kind of obvious."

"Do you think Uncle Ron will know then?" Dom asked the question I wasn't sure I wanted an answer to.

"Are you kidding?" Tory and Teddy both laughed loudly. "You know how long it took him to realise he liked Aunt 'Mione… They'll be married with kids before Uncle Ron realises."

"Erm, thanks," Scorpius mumbled. I chuckled. "There's my family. I better go."

"Oh, okay," I mumbled dejectedly. "I suppose I'll see you in a week then."

"I could use some help getting my bags," he said. I was sure he meant something else.

"I'll help you," I replied. Then, to my cousins, I said, "See you in a minute."

Scorpius and I found a secluded spot behind a wall where nobody ever went and spent some time on our goodbye kisses. Yes, we'd said we'd only be a few minutes, but… we got distracted.

"I should go," Scorpius breathed against my neck. I responded by pulling him closer to me and kissing him again. "Rose - I should - I've really got -"

"Just… just shut up for a minute, Scorpius," I silenced him with another kiss. His arms wrapped tighter around my waist.

I had him pinned against the wall so that he couldn't move. Not that he was complaining or anything.

"Scorpius, are you-"

Scorpius' mother came round the corner and stopped in her tracks at the sight of us. We broke apart, arms still round each other, and stared at Scorpius' mother for a split second, then we both started moving.

"I'm going to-"

"Yeah, me too-"

"I'll just-"

"Oh, sorry-"

"Scorpius, relax," His mother looked like she was about to laugh. She turned to me, my face now completely bright red, "Hello, Rose."

"Hey, Mrs Malfoy," I mumbled, extremely embarrassed. I honestly couldn't imagine a situation more embarrassing.

I went to walk off but Scorpius grabbed my hand. I spun back round and he was suddenly right next to me, kissing me quickly and softly.

"See you in a week," he breathed.

"Uh hmm," was the only thing I could manage before I hurried away to find my family, pointedly ignoring his mothers gaze.

They were all grouped round in a large circle in the middle of the platform. As I approached a chorus of exclamations went up.

"There she is!"

"Finally!"

"Where have you been?" My mother asked me as she pulled me into a hug. "Oh, you smell of cologne."

I blushed again as I picked up my luggage and my whole family started towards the exit. "I-I do?"

"Well, it's probably S-"

Fred kicked Al viscously to shut him up. I sent Fred a look to show my appreciation.

"Fred, don't kick your cousin!"

"Sorry mum," Fred was most definitely not sorry.

By the time we arrived back to the Burrow every single member of my cousins, bar Louis, had been kicked by Fred or me. Even Teddy had been kicked for trying to mention my relationship, or at least pretending he was going to.

I wasn't sure why Fred was helping me keep them all quiet, but I _was_ sure it would probably not be good for me.

As soon as I entered the living room Nana Molly attacked me with a hug. I was the last cousin for her, having wandered slowly behind the others in the hope that I'd be forgotten, to fuss over so she seemed to be dragging it out more.

"And your grades are good, Rosie?"

"Yes, Nana," I smiled. I stepped forwards to sit down but she came with me. I love my Nana and everything but it was almost as if we were playing Twenty Questions about my life.

"No boyfriend yet, Rosie?" Nana Weasley asked suddenly.

I thought it best to be truthful considering what I was going to have to explain later. "Actually, I do have a boyfriend…"

The adults who didn't already know stared at me in shock.

"Who?" My parents' stares were burning into the back of my head.

"I… I don't want to say," I mumbled. They all started to complain.

_When you find out you'll wish you didn't know,_ I thought.

"She's da-" I slapped Al round the back of the head. He had agreed to stop arguing with Scorpius and I but he _really_ wanted our family to know now - so he had decided that _he _should just tell them whenever _he _got the chance.

_Typical Al._

"Shut up, Al," Fred snapped at him.

"_You _know, Fred?" Aunt Ginny asked him.

"Well, yeah, everybody at Hogwarts knows," Fred grinned.

My parents, Aunt Ginny and Uncle Harry smiled - they knew all about the speed of gossip at Hogwarts.

Al opened his mouth to speak again. I kicked out at his chess board and all his Wizards Chess pieces went flying, some into the kitchen and others under the sofas.

"Al - fetch," I growled at him. He glared at me in return but immediately set about collecting the pieces.

"Come on, Rosie," Uncle Harry smiled. "Tell us."

I looked at my feet. "I don't want to now…"

"Why not?" Aunt Fleur asked.

"Because dad's head will explode…"

I looked up to their confused faces. My mother actually looked quite amused, so did Uncle Harry. My fathers expression, however, was the look somebody got when they were trying to remember something that was just out of reach of their memory.

"Come on, tell us…" Aunt Ginny begged. She loved gossiping. "Fred?"

"Fred, don't you dare." I threatened him.

"I'm not saying anything," he reassured me. Then he leaned back on the sofa, relaxing. "I'm just here for the entertainment."

_Ah, so **that's** why he wanted me to be the one to tell my parents. Touching._

"Well, I can deal with it being anybody," my mother smiled. "Is it that lovely Hufflepuff boy from your Ancient Runes class?"

"No, mum!" I scoffed. "There's no use guessing, you won't guess it correctly."

"Just as long as it's not Malfoy," my dad joked.

I froze as I leaned forwards to pick up a bishop from the floor. Fred, Lily, Al, Louis, Roxanne and Dom all froze too.

Then Fred laughed into the silence. "What do you know," he announced to the room as reality dawned on them all. "First time lucky."

I honestly feared for my life as I turned to judge my parents reactions.

* * *

><p><em>Scorpius' POV<em>

The car journey returning from the station was painful. Silently painful.

I sat in the back of the car with my little sister. She had slept most of the way. Every few minutes my mum glanced at me in the mirror with an amused look on her face.

When we turned down our road, I had to speak.

"You're not going to keep staring at me all holiday, are you?" I sighed.

She didn't even pretend to be confused. "I'm sorry, Scorpius, it's just…"

"Is it really so weird that I have a girlfriend?"

"No, no! Of course not," my mum quickly exclaimed.

"Then why do you keep giving me dodgy looks?"

"I-"

Claire woke up then, just as we pulled into the drive, and my mum stopped talking. No doubt we'd finish this conversation later.

Claire wanted me to carry her into the house, so I did.

"Hey, mum," she turned expectantly to me as she unlocked the door. "Don't say anything to dad yet."

She didn't ask why - we both knew he wouldn't like the idea of his only pureblood son dating a non-pureblood. Especially a Weasley non-pureblood.

A few hours later I had successfully unpacked my trunk, had dinner, joined my sister for a welcome-home-tea party and had just had a shower.

I sat in my room, looking for a clean shirt to wear, when I heard the unmistakable sound of an owl downstairs.

"Scorpius!" My dad shouted up the stairs to me. "There's a letter here for you!"

I bolted down the stairs quicker than I possibly ever had.

My father looked on, confused, as I skidded to a halt in the kitchen and practically pulled the letter apart.

I hurried into the living room, my dad started to stuff the clothes from my school trunk into the washing machine, and collapsed onto the sofa, reading the letter.

_Scor,_

_My father hasn't moved for the past twenty minutes._

_Don't think I've got off lightly though - my mother has been yelling at me and giving me her best disappointed stares for the past 18 minutes and 30 seconds._

_I've barely been at home over an hour and already every one of my aunts and uncles, except those who already knew, have gone weird. They all keep giving me this disappointed look too.  
><em>

_Why should they be disappointed? You're amazing. And I know they like you._

_Sometimes I just don't understand my family._

_I hope your mum doesn't think I'm any less of a perfect lady because of earlier. I can't believe how embarrassing that was._

_Love you always,_

_Your Rose._

_P.s. When we get back to Hogwarts you need to punch Al - he's being unbelievably annoying._

I smiled, and couldn't stop. The letter was signed with a lipstick print where she'd kissed it.

"What are you reading?" My father's voice made me jump. I hadn't even seen him enter the room.

"A letter," I replied vaguely, folding the letter up quickly.

"From a girlfriend?" He asked, his voice strangely emotionless. He obviously read my body language and knew I wanted to hide the letter from him.

"I don't-"

"There's lipstick on your collar," he suddenly stated.

"Yes," I didn't know what to say.

My father held up my school shirt and, sure enough, there was lipstick on the collar of it. "It's not Tara, because her parents would have told us by now so either you're doing inappropriate things with girls you're not even dating or you're dating somebody I don't approve of, Scorpius."

I gulped. "Yes."

Sometimes my father was such a traditionalist. He wanted me to date Tara because she was a pureblood, like me, and then we could have a pureblood family and carry on the family traditions.

It was stupid.

It was pathetic.

It was never going to happen.

It was Lucius' idea.

My father had to give up his idiotic fantasy that we Malfoys would remain a pureblood family forever. Well, maybe it would have for another generation if I hadn't met Rose.

Not that we were getting married or anything. Merlin, I keep getting ahead of myself recently. Since when was this relationship _that_ serious?

I guess Al was right - we must have known it was going to be serious, otherwise we wouldn't have gone through with it. There was too much to answer for.

Maybe I was simply just _hoping_ we'd be together that long, and actually get married and have a life together.

Oh Merlin, I really was falling hard for Rose.

"So which one is it, Scorpius?" My father looked as if he was about to get angry. _Was I supposed to tell him everything about my life?_ "Are you a disappointment to me, or to yourself?"

"Well, I certainly haven't disappointed myself, dad," I spat bitterly as I stood up. "For once, I'm actually _happy_."

"Because you have a girlfriend?" my father scoffed.

"Yes," I snapped. "Because she makes me happy, dad."

"Scorpius, that is so-"

"So what? So unbelievable that I actually found somebody that I like without your help? Did you really think for a minute that I'd ever stay with Tara?"

My father sighed. "Scorpius, you're getting yourself all worked up over nothing."

"Oh, really, dad?" I stood up. "Is that what I'm doing?"

"What in the world is going on here?" My mother demanded as she entered the room. From the clothes she was wearing it seemed as if she had been called into work at the last minute.

_What a surprise._

"Maybe Scorpius would like to explain."

"_Maybe Draco would like to explain_," I mimicked his voice.

"Is she a pureblood?"

"Nope, she's a Weasley."

My father took an angry step forwards then.

"Using intimidation Lucius-style, I see."

"Don't you dare talk about that man," my father clenched his teeth together.

"Why not? Because you're so much like him that you'd rather not remind yourself? Are you a coward then, dad? Yeah, I thought you were… You coward."

Then he punched me across the face.

"Oh, hitting people now, are we?" I again couldn't control myself. The punching I could take, but I was not going to be seen as weaker than him. "I thought that was just a Lucius Malfoy thing. Or does it run in the family? Should I expect to do it later in life too?"

My father clenched his fists. I took a step to my left, placing the sofa between us.

"Stop it!" My mother yelled. "You both need to calm down."

Neither of us moved for a few long seconds.

"Scorpy…" I heard my little sister mumble from the doorway. She stepped out from behind my mother, clutching her teddy bear. "Why are you arguing with daddy?"

I relaxed a little and went to pick up Claire. "We're not arguing, Clairie."

"Yes we are," my father mumbled under his breath.

"Oh, what, do you _have_ to have the last word, dad?" I snapped back, stroking my sisters hair.

"Look, lets just sit down," my mother spoke calmly. My father and her sat opposite me and Claire. "What started the argument this time?"

"Scorpius… has a girlfriend," my father announced after a few moments. It seemed we both had to think for a moment - it didn't matter what had caused the argument, we'd fight about anything nowadays.

"Yes, I know," my mother agreed simply. "Is that all you were arguing about?"

"Is that all you can say Astoria?" My dad looked annoyed now, but not angry.

"I already know he has a girlfriend, Draco. And she's a very nice girl," my mother placed her hand over his.

My father took a few deep calming breaths.

"And I think you might need to go back to therapy," my mother breathed slowly, carefully.

He'd made progress since the last time my mother spoke those words. The last time he went mental - turning over chairs and breaking mirrors. This time, he just closed his eyes and held on to my mothers hand as if it was his lifeline.

I began to think he'd never speak again because he stayed quiet for so long. Then, he finally broke the silence a few minutes after Claire fell asleep.

"What's her name?" He asked, opening his eyes. I saw the familiar greyness looking back at me and wondered whether it was meant to reflect my life - dull and… well, grey.

I thought it best to just tell him. "Rose Weasley."

Something flickered in his eyes and his hold on my mothers hand tensed for a moment, but then he relaxed. I knew what he was thinking: "_Ron Weasley's daughter."_

"Can I meet her?"

"Only if you're not planning on killing her," I replied immediately.

Then we both started laughing.

Once the laughter subsided there was an almost awkward silence and I all but forgot my mother and sister were there when my father next spoke.

"I need help, Scorpius."

I sighed, suddenly tired. "I know, dad."

"And I'm sorry," he looked me straight in the eyes so that I knew he was telling the truth. "You know that, right? I'm sorry for everything. I'm especially sorry for now though - I shouldn't have hit you… I shouldn't have ever touched you. I don't mean to, I just… I get so _angry_ and I can't control myself. I thought I had it under control but… it turns out all my anger that I've accumulated these past years since the first therapy has just… made me bottle it up inside me. I think I was always subconsciously on edge and this… just tipped me that little bit further. I am so sorry, Scorpius."

"I forgive you," I told him. "Despite the problems you've had in the past, you've handled it all so well and you're trying. Because that's what matters. It matters that you're trying and have tried and have succeeded in being a great father. Forthe record, I don't think you're anything like _Lucius_. You're related, similar in some traits, but... you're not the _same_, dad. It's just these times, you know, these one in a million moments that you lose control. And I am forgiving you, dad, because I _know _you would never have hit me just now if I was five years old again. I can look after myself now. So if you ever hit me again for something I think I don't deserve, don't worry - because you can be sure as hell I'm going to hit you back."

"That's my boy," he gave me a weak smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, so I hope hope hope some of you like this. Ron's reaction from Rose's POV will be in the next chapter, properly, and I hope you like what I wrote. This reaction, Draco's reaction... it could have gone so many ways. Draco, I think, would have learnt from the war and the way Voldemort pushed him around - he didn't kill Dumbledore, did he? When it finally came down to it<strong> -** and I think he'd have problems with his past, and his anger, but he'd strive to be unlike Lucius in many ways. So, anyway, I hope that explains my reasoning to you, I hope you liked this chapter and _please_ review, because I'm literally so so worried that you'll hate this!**

**Thank you for reading.**


	21. Malfoy

**Okay, so I'm a very optimistic person, but at the moment I'm sad, and angry, and stressed, so I decided that I was gonig to upload this because 1. It was about time! and 2. You're all so lovely to me.  
><strong>

**I hope you enjoy it because... as usual, I'm worried! I know! I constantly worry what you guys will think but, at the same time, it is my story so what else can I do? I just want to again thank you all from the bottom of my heart for supporting the story and reading/reviewing. You've all been absolutely amazing.**

**I hope you like Ron's reaction! Don't forget: Ron already _knows_ and _likes_ Scorpius.**

* * *

><p><strong><strong>_Rose's POV  
><em>

"This is absolutely unacceptable, Rosie!" My father stood in the middle of the living room, a few adult members of my family looking on at the scene of him yelling at me with guilt and fear etched into their faces, seemingly frozen in shock, but the majority just appeared to be irritated with me. "The _one _family we are constantly telling you all to steer clear of and it's the _one_ person that you decide you want to start dating?"

"I-" I tried to speak but my throat had closed up.

I knew my father would be a little disappointed and pretty angry, but I didn't realise he would be so _serious _about it - he seemed so angry that I began to think I'd never see him smile again.

"When Al became friends with Scorpius we were pretty annoyed, yes, but they were good mates, that was all and he turned out, surprisingly, to be a nice boy. But _dating_? That's just a whole new chapter, Rose! Can't you see why we'd be annoyed? Did you even think about us when you started dating him?" He glared at me, as if wanting an answer, but I couldn't move, let alone speak.

"Ron…" My mother, having already had a somewhat heated (but much shorter and fairer) argument about this with me in front of the entire family just ten minutes earlier, seemed to have calmed down and looked at the situation from a logical perspective - Thank Merlin I had Hermione Weasley as a mother. "Maybe you should calm down…"

"Calm down? _Calm down_, Hermione?" My dad turned to look at her for a minute. "You do realise who we're talking about? This is the _Malfoy's_!"

"Dad-" I managed to stutter this time. All of my cousins were staring open-mouthed. Lily and Dom had tears in their eyes, like they feared my dad was about to disown me or something.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that I feared that too.

"Listen to me, Rose, the Malfoy's have _one_ son. One possible person for you to start dating, and even that, I figured, was a one in a million possibility. But no, you somehow _manage _to do it!"

"But-" Even my aunts and uncles were confused - my dad was overreacting more than we thought he would. My granddad sat calmly in his usual armchair. I knew _he_ would never let my father throw me out, if it really came to that.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Rose. I can't believe you'd even think of defying us so deliberately! It seems you've specifically chosen to date the poor boy just to annoy us!"

"Ron," Uncle Harry spoke up this time, but my father didn't even indicate that he'd heard him. "Leave her alone."

"Are you even listening to me, Rose-" My father started again.

We were all surprised when _Fred, _of all people, interrupted him.

"Of course she's listening to you, Uncle Ron!" He actually shouted as he stood up, which ensured we'd all listen to him. "All she's done is listen to you constantly telling her, these past ten minutes, that she's a disappointment and scare her so much that she's now _crying_!"

And I _was_ crying, silently, and I hadn't even realised.

"Can't you just let her speak?" Fred sighed exasperatedly. He came and stood beside me, wrapping his arms around me.

I looked at him and mouthed a weak, "Thank you."

"Anything for family," he muttered, obviously directing the comment at my father.

My mother stood up quietly and joined us.

"She's been anything but a disappointment, Ron," my mother whispered.

"But Hermione, even _you _were yelling at her only-"

"I know I was, but look at her, Ron!" That one statement was all it took for my father to actually notice what a state I was in. "This is not what a typical relationship does to a girl. This is what _love_ does to a girl, Ron."

My father froze, and then he was angry again.

"Love, Hermione?" He argued. "My daughter, my baby girl, is _not_ in love with a Malfoy!"

"Why not?" Hugo stood up too, and joined the small group of us huddled in the middle of the room. He took one of my arms and linked it through his as Lily came and did the same with my other arm.

I noticed Lily take a deep breath to steady her own nerves. She was strong, emotionally and physically, and I needed her strength right then.

_I needed the support from all of my family to help my dad get over this._

_Surely my dad wouldn't tell me to leave?_

_Of course not…_

_Well he _was_ quiet angry…_

_Stop being silly, Rose, of course he wouldn't._

_Wouldn't he?_

_Will you just stop questioning yourself, for once?_

"You're being irrational," Nana Molly tried to tell her youngest son.

"Is he?" Uncle Bill shot me an apologetic look before continuing. "He seems to be the only one thinking about the Malfoys and how much they supported Voldemort."

"What about how much they helped to defeat him?" Uncle Harry, thankfully, had a quick comeback to that.

"Exactly," Aunt Ginny took his hand. "Without Narcissa Malfoy, Harry wouldn't be here today."

Along with my cousins, we all looked at little confused, but remained quiet. We didn't know much about the year that Voldemort was defeated - we were never told. And what we had heard wasn't particularly specific.

I made a mental note to ask Scorpius, or Narcissa Malfoy, what she'd done to help out my uncle.

"And without Narcissa, Draco wouldn't be here. And without Draco, Scorpius wouldn't be here," Aunt Fleur mumbled.

"Hey, that's not a good thing!" Al argued, standing up. "He's my best friend!"

Surprisingly, it was Granddad Arthur who stood up next.

"Okay, everybody," he announced authoritatively. "All of you can sit down now and let's let Rose talk, shall we? She doesn't need _everybody's_ opinion bombarded at her all at once."

He came and stood beside me, whilst the others all took a seat. My father and I shared a long look before he took a seat.

I didn't know what they wanted me to say. I looked to my granddad, scared that I would say the wrong thing and make the situation worse.

"Go on, Rosie Pie," he coaxed gently. "How did this start?"

"Erm," I stuttered. "I don't know. We just… got to know each other this year. With rounds and Head Duties and I…" I didn't know what to say so I turned to Dom, my mother, my Nana and Aunt Ginny, who were all sitting together, and muttered, "He's _really_ good-looking," almost apologetically.

And they laughed. That laughter was all the encouragement I needed to gain some strength.

I wasn't going to be all anxious around my father now. He _was not_ going to be in control of this situation.

My father was not going to tell me what to do because, in this instance, I knew better than him. And it was about time _he_ grew up.

"And, you know what," I stated firmly, addressing my whole family and wiping my tears away with my sleeve. "It doesn't matter how it started because I am _not_ breaking up with him, dad. I don't care if you suddenly think that I'm a disappointment, because I know I'm not - I get the best grades in my year, I was prefect, I'm Head Girl, I'm on the Quidditch team, I was head of the Chess club for a while in my first year and I know practically every spell and potion that I've been taught, so why would I possibly be the disappointment?"

My father, along with Uncle Bill, Aunt Fleur and the rest of my family, exchanged confused looks. I glared at him.

Then the most shocking thing yet happened: My father was quiet.

A single tear ran down his cheek as he stared at me.

"Oh, Rosie," He whispered, opening his arms to me. "I've been a complete idiot."

I was so relieved, I let out a shaky laugh as I went and sat on his lap.

"You have been," I agreed.

"I'm so sorry," he told mostly me, but also the rest of my family.

"I forgive you," I sighed, hugging him hard.

"You know I would never disown you, no matter what?" He checked. "Malfoy or no Malfoy, you're still my baby."

"Hey," Hugo complained. "I'm the youngest! How is it that I'm still not the 'baby' of the family?"

"Want us to call you 'Baby Boy', Hugo?" Uncle George joked. "Cause we can, if you like."

"I'm good," He muttered quickly, seemingly regretting even speaking.

There was an awkward pause. The only sound was that of the grandfather clock chiming.

"Ron, you know what the Malfoys were like…" Uncle Bill continued.

"I know," my father snapped at him. "Just give me a while to think. I need to talk to Hermione."

We all, excluding Uncle Bill and my father, smiled slightly at that.

When my father 'thought' things through, well… he asked my mother.

"Let's go into the kitchen," She suggested.

"I'm…" I had to clarify a few things before they disappeared. "I'm still allowed to date Scorpius, right?"

"Of course."

"And… and it's okay?" I asked.

"It's okay," My father sighed, and I could tell he was still reluctant. He would still be annoyed, if he thought about it too much. "We just need to talk about… about stuff."

I knew my father was still going to push it, in the other room, where he wasn't outnumbered. But he knew, and I knew, and we all knew, that he wasn't going to persuade any of us, so he'd _have_ to accept this.

"Come on, Ronald," my mother's lips twitched into a small smile, like she too knew what was to come.

They disappeared into the kitchen. A few seconds later my mother's head appeared around the door.

"Harry," She called expectantly.

"Right," he agreed promptly, and bounced out of his seat to join them in the kitchen.

After a pause of no more than three seconds, Aunt Ginny shrugged and, grinning, went to join them.

* * *

><p>My father's hand came back down to hit the table for the third time during the conversation.<p>

"It's absolutely unacceptable."

"It is her choice, Ronald," my mother argued tiresomely - she knew he'd give up soon. My dad was changing from being okay with my relationship to being annoyed to being angry. This was good though - it meant he was almost at the end of the _'annoyance' _phase and was moving onto Phase Two - Sulking.

"But… but-" my father spluttered. "It's… we're talking about Scorpius _Malfoy_, Hermione."

Neither of my parents spoke for a moment. Then, my mother gave an impatient sigh.

"Harry, help me out here, for Merlin's sake!"

I heard my uncle Harry cough. "Well, erm…"

Dom sighed. I turned to face her, a quizzical look on my face. "Uncle Harry's is no help at all."

I nodded. "But at least he wasn't opposed to the idea of Scorpius and me."

"I still can't believe _you_, of all people, snagged up that lovely looking boy," Dom pretended to lick her lips.

I smacked her on the arm and she feigned pain.

"Will you two be quiet please?" Fred and Louis exploded in a whisper.

Dom and I sent them both our best sarcastic '_sorry_' expressions before all four of us returned to listening through the door.

It had been less than an hour since I'd written to Scorpius, therefore only around half an hour since my parents had started their talk in the kitchen. I'd received no reply yet, but Fred, Louis and Dom had all decided that it was better use of my time if I eavesdropped on my parents than sitting alone upstairs and reading my book.

It was a really good book, too.

"…considering the past the Weasley's have with the Malfoys-" Harry was saying carefully.

"Don't you talk to me about the Weasleys as if I'm not one of them, Harry!" My mum was becoming seriously annoyed now.

"I wasn't-"

"Look, can we just focus back on the problem at hand, please?" My father spoke over them.

My mother scoffed. "_'Problem'_, Ronald?"

"Well, '_problem_' seems like an appropriate word given the situation."

"There is no _'situation'_ or _'problem'_, Ron," my mother argued again. "She has a boyfriend."

My father evidently made a face at that word because my mother laughed at him.

"She isn't allowed a boyfriend," my father eventually came out with.

"You just told her, only twenty minutes ago, that you were fine with it!" My mother pointed out.

"Well, I was fine with it… twenty minutes ago," He muttered back. "Now I'm deliberating whether or not to change my mind."

"That is tough, Ronald," My mother replied simply. "Because you can't."

"Why not? I'll just tell her that she's not allowed to see him anymore-"

"Trust me, Ron, if I've learned one thing about daughters in my time it's that you _cannot _forbid them from seeing a boy," Uncle Harry's voice dripped with a tone that suggested he really did have past knowledge of this.

Thinking about Lily and the infamous _Victoire-and-Teddy _situation when they were teenagers (maybe I'll tell you about it sometime… but it's kind of a long story), he probably _did _have experience.

"So what are you saying then?" my father was annoyed now, again. "If I ban her from seeing him she'll, what, sneak out the window in the middle of the night?"

My mother laughed, and so did Aunt Ginny - they both knew he wasn't going to forbid me from seeing Scorpius, he'd already said so earlier. "I think you're forgetting some vital information, Ron?"

"What's that?" He asked, suddenly apprehensive of the answer.

"She goes to a _boarding school_," Aunt Ginny laughed.

"So?" My father was so clueless sometimes.

"So they have dorm rooms-" Uncle Harry sounded protective.

"-And he's a teenage boy," My father added, appalled.

"Nonsense," my mother sighed.

"Yeah, if they wanted to-" Aunt Ginny, evidently doing all she could to annoy her brother, got interrupted quickly by my dad.

"Don't say it!"

She ignored him and continued. "They'd just do it at Hogwarts."

My father didn't speak for a full minute. I looked to Dom as we kept our ears pressed to the door. We both grinned.

"Right, she's going to Beauxbatons."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"It's an all girls school!" Aunt Ginny was the first to reply.

"And their grades are nowhere near as good as Hogwarts'," My mother laughed, knowing he wasn't serious.

"She doesn't speak much French…" Uncle Harry lied. He, of all people, knew how well I spoke French.

"She'll suffocate without any boys," Aunt Ginny added again.

"I'm sure she'll survive," My father muttered.

"For Merlin's sake, Ronald!" My mother laughed. "Stop being so dramatic and let the poor girl have a boyfriend."

"But he's-"

"A Malfoy, yes."

"Exactly!"

"We _have_ been over this already, right Ginny?" My mother jokingly addressed my aunt.

"Hermione," Uncle Harry interrupted calmly. "Maybe we should just have a cup of tea for a minute."

"Can't you just leave the poor girl alone?" My mother sighed.

"Look, maybe we should talk about this later?" My father asked.

"You're just trying to worm your way out of this conversation, Ron!" Aunt Ginny pointed out.

"I can't believe we're even having this conversation," My father muttered.

"Yes, because you are being ridiculous and melodramatic!"

"I am not," my father sulked. "I'm thinking about the future."

"She's not even eighteen yet," Aunt Ginny argued. "She only has to think about what clothes she's going to wear on the weekend or whose party is coming up."

"It's not as if she just announced she's going to marry the poor boy," Uncle Harry tried to reason.

"She better not!" My father scoffed.

My eyebrows pulled together. _Sometimes my dad was so narrow-minded._

I caught Dom looking at me with a curious expression on her face - it was the same shocked expression I saw when she arrived at a lesson only to realise she hadn't done the homework.

"_What?" _I mouthed to her. She simply shook her head and indicated that we should focus back to the conversation on the other side of the door.

"Don't you think we should talk to Scorpius about this?" My mother was saying now.

"We could invite him to dinner!" Aunt Ginny was excited now. Mischievous woman.

"No!"

"Yes!" My mother argued only a split second after my father had answered.

"Harry…" My mother obviously had turned to my uncle to sway my father over.

"Come on, Ron," Uncle Harry finally spoke. "This is little Rosie we're talking about. Give Scorpius a chance."

"Fine!" My father sighed. "But he better be polite."

Finally, they all laughed.

"This is _Scorpius_, Ron, he's incredibly polite," Ginny was obviously smiling now. "I'll write to Astoria now."

The chairs scraped on the floor and, in an instant, Louis, Fred, Dom and I sprung to action.

There was nowhere to hide in the hallway so Louis bolted up the stairs, Fred and Dom quickly took up positions by the stairs, pretending they were simply there by coincidence because they knew they would never reach safety before they were spotted, and I ended up ducking behind the kitchen door as it swung open.

Aunt Ginny wandered into the living room, no doubt looking for an owl and some parchment, Uncle Harry and my parents managed a few steps before they saw Dom and Fred on the stairs. They gave them one suspicious look before Uncle Harry asked them:

"Alright, you two, where's Rose hiding?"

"Behind the door," they both chorused at the same time and escaped up the stairs.

The door was pushed closed by Harry to reveal my innocent-looking face.

"Hey, fancy seeing you guys here," I mumbled to my parents, then shouted up the stairs to Fred and Dom, "I'm going to kill you two!"

I heard them laugh.

"Not if Uncle Ron kills you first!" Fred yelled back.

"You're definitely dating this boy, Rosie?" My father checked one last time, ignoring Fred's comment altogether.

"Define '_dating_'…" I mumbled.

"Going out on dates… holding hands…" even that last comment was embarrassing for my father to say.

"Snogging," Aunt Ginny added, not even bothering to act embarrassed as she came back and joined our conversation. "And other _intimate_ things."

"Ginny!" My father exclaimed suddenly. He looked horrified.

I sighed. "Yes, with that definition of dating."

Then I realised how it might have sounded. "No, I didn't mean-"

Aunt Ginny winked at me as my fathers face turned redder and redder from embarassment. "Of course you did, Rosie."

"We've invited him for dinner, Rose," my mother smiled at me, redirecting the conversation, thankfully.

"But you've met him a hundred times before," I complained as my face cooled slightly. I knew it must have been incredibly red. _Did I really have to sit through the unfortunate situation of a whole meal with my entire family asking questions?_

"But not as your boyfriend, Rose Petal," Ginny smiled.

Harry, Ginny and my mother were all smiling, but my father and I simply looked apprehensive.

"This is going to be _so_ uncomfortable," I mumbled.

* * *

><p>"Well… that was strange," Fred commented as I joined them in my room a few minutes later. I nodded my agreement.<p>

_Strange? Horrifying, uncomfortable, terrifying._

Still, it had gone better than I'd thought.

Ultimately, my dad loved his family more than anything, even his prejudices.

Dom and Fred started to argue about Quidditch - something they'd been doing a lot of at the moment. The annual Quidditch Tournament was coming up soon and the final was always front page news in the Daily Prophet - every year they would argue that they'd get tickets, and every year they didn't because of different reasons.

"He's so going to beat up Scorpius!" Al exclaimed, slightly too enthusiastically for my liking, as he came barging through the door and landed next to me on my bed.

"Oh, I _so_ hope he does," Fred agreed, grinning.

They both caught my expression and all four of my cousins started laughing.

"Don't be silly," I chided them, then I grinned. "Scorpius could take dad any day."

"He sure does have the muscles for it," Dom winked at me.

Al muttered, "That's disgusting," to her mockingly and gave her a small poke which tipped her off the bed.

"He sure does," I sighed dreamily.

Fred clicked his fingers in front of my face.

"You better not have seen his muscles without a shirt over them," Al was joking, but there was still a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"Hypocritical teenager," Dom muttered under her breath to Al. He glared.

"Why not?" I grinned cheekily, purely for entertainment purposes.

"Because… because-," Al couldn't form sentences. Sometimes I enjoyed seeing him squirm.

"Relax, Al," Dom laughed as she climbed back onto my bed. "You guys went swimming together last summer."

"Good, because for a minute there I thought you guys had-"

"I think that's enough for that topic," I hurried the conversation away from my private love life. There was an uncomfortable pause in which we all scrambled around to find something to talk about.

"So what time do you think-" Louis started.

"Al!" I heard Uncle George call up the stairs. "Rose!"

"-Scorpius will get here…" Louis finished his question as a disappointed statement.

"That was quick," Dom actually looked surprised.

"He probably Floo'd," Louis speculated.

"Talk about having time on your hands…" Fred mumbled. I heard Dom agree but I knew they were just being annoying on purpose.

Ignoring them, I sprang up off my bed and hurried down the stairs, followed closely by Al. Louis, Dom and Fred lagged behind.

When I reached the bottom of the stairs I saw an overnight bag with the green Slytherin emblem on it.

Scorpius was definitely here.

I hurried into the kitchen, slowing down into a fast walk. Expecting to see mayhem, or my father with an extremely red face or Scorpius with a bruise, I pushed open the door.

Scorpius was sitting at the table, my grandmother sitting beside him - she looked a little needy, a little too interested in him - and my mother was evidently making him a cup of tea. My father and, what appeared to be much of the rest of my family, were also all crammed into the kitchen, each one of them standing around and chatting to each other quietly.

Scorpius, along with everybody else, looked up at me when I entered the room. I caught the purple bruise on his forehead and forgot that I was surrounded by my entire family.

"Oh my Merlin," I fussed over him as I pulled up a chair. "My dad hit you, didn't he? He did!"

I shot my dad a '_We'll talk about this later look_' but he simply looked confused.

Scorpius chuckled. "No, actually, that was _my_ dad."

I tried not to look too shocked.

"Ouch," was the only reply I could think of.

"Don't worry about it," He smiled at me. "Minor family problems."

"You didn't, by any chance, tell him you were dating _me_?"

Scorpius didn't answer. I took that as a yes.

"You need some ice," I fussed again.

I stood up to get the ice, but Scorpius took hold of my hand and pulled me back down into my chair. "I've had this bruise for a few hours, Rose. I think I'm good for ice now."

"Stop fussing, Rosie," Nana Molly laughed.

"But-"

"Stop fussing," Scorpius repeated. He smiled at me so sweetly I thought I'd melt.

His face was so close to mine I couldn't help but kiss him - I was so used to it. I forgot where I was - he was so intoxicating.

My Nana Molly cleared her throat and that was all I needed to remember where I was.

Scorpius and I sprang apart in a flash, almost as if we had received an electric shocked.

"Great move, Rose," Roxanne mumbled sarcastically, and maybe even a little jealously, from her position next to Uncle George and James and beside us.

"Sorry," I mumbled, my face turning extremely red - so was Scorpius' - and feeling like a spotlight was on me. That wasn't the best move, considering the earlier argument... "I don't know what made me do that."

"It's because Scorpius is _fine_," Dom declared, drawing the attention of everybody in the room from their individual conversations and making everybody laugh.

Victoire, who was standing beside Teddy (I hadn't seen them arrive), slapped her round the back of her head as everybody resumed their conversations.

I caught a glimpse of my father in the corner of the room. He was sulking this time, but thankfully his eyes had been trained on my mothers face (which was probably not a coincidence on my mothers part).

_Thank Merlin._

As soon as he turned round to scan the room, I beckoned him over.

"Well, it looks like nobody cares but me," my father mumbled. Evidently Uncle Bill had given up on his argument too.

I smiled. "Well… why should we get hassle from everybody?"

"But Rosie-"

"I'm a Malfoy," Scorpius finished my fathers sentence. He directed his next words to my father. "It's okay, I get it."

"I like that you see things as they are, Scorpius," my father actually smiled at him.

"I'm sorry I… y'know," Scorpius mumbled.

_It was so typical of him to think that he had to _apologise _to my father for dating me. _I had to actually remind myself not to roll my eyes. I did anyway.

My father was about to say something (I have no idea _what_), but I interrupted him.

"Well I don't care that you're a Malfoy so I don't think anybody else has a right to care either," I spoke to Scorpius but the words were clearly directed at my father also.

Scorpius took my hand from under the table and stared into my eyes for a moment.

"So how long have you been dating?" Aunt Ginny interrupted us to ask inappropriate questions.

"Errm…" I mumbled. Scorpius opted for coughing and staring at his shoe.

"Since the Christmas Ball," Lily joined us at the table. Al followed her, commenting contently that he was glad Lily was here to make things awkward by making inappropriate comments - she was _so_ like her mother.

"No, we avoided each other a little after that," Scorpius informed Lily. "I'd say probably New Years."

"That's… that's, like, three months!" Nana Molly exclaimed.

I exchanged a look with Scorpius and then we both smirked. _Had we really kept it a secret from our parents for three months?_

My parents and the rest of my family looked on, rather amused.

"Why don't we all clear out of the kitchen so that we can make dinner?" Auntie Angie rounded us all up (she had a special talent for controlling mayhem - well, she'd had a lot of practice with Fred).

We slowly wandered into the living room.

As we did so James and Teddy both slapped Scorpius on the back as they passed him. "We're going to beat you up later, Scorpius… Just so you know."

Scorpius looked alarmed. I laughed and stroked my hand up and down his arm. "Ignore them."

Everybody took a seat wherever there was one and somebody thought to put the radio on quietly in the background.

Things started to feel like normal.

Scorpius and Al started up a game of chess. I sat beside Scorpius on the floor, telling him what moves to make when he went wrong or played a less than perfect game.

Some of the pieces in Al's chess set were dented or battered. I felt bad for kicking them across the room and made a mental note to buy him the Chudley Cannon ones that he liked from Quality Quidditch Supplies. It was his birthday soon, anyway.

I took Scorpius' hand in mine, meaning he only hand one hand to move his chess pieces, and stroked circles on it with my thumb. He grinned at me cheekily.

Having one of the most annoying, nosey families in both the Wizarding World and the Muggle World, they undoubtedly started asking questions after they'd exhausted the topics of Uncle Harry's work, Nana Molly's new kitchen tiles and, unbelievably, Quidditch.

They'd just got on to arguing about where Roderick Plumpton was born when, seemingly out of the blue for me because I was so intent on Al and Scorpius' game, the conversation around me was directed towards my area of the room.

"Where were you born, Scorpius?"

"Do you have any siblings?"

"What are you hoping to do after Hogwarts?"

"Exactly _how_ loaded are you?"

I kicked Fred for that last question. He simply defended himself by saying, "I've always wondered."

Scorpius laughed.

"Leave him alone," I sighed. "And you need to move your knight to B5."

"Stop helping him!" Al complained.

"Sorry!" I smiled sarcastically. "If you want to defend your Queen just move your pawn to-"

"Do you just want to play the game by yourself?" Al snapped at me.

"You know what," Scorpius interrupted our argument. "I don't think I feel like playing chess."

"I'll play," I smirked at Al.

"Anybody but you," Al pleaded.

Lily took up Al's offer.

"I was born in London, I have a little sister called Claire and I'm planning on becoming a Curse Breaker. And, Fred, I don't like to talk about it but… pretty loaded," he looked embarrassed but patient. "Anything else?" he grinned politely.

"Good career choice," Uncle Bill smiled approvingly. As soon as the words 'Curse Breaker' were out of his mouth I knew there would be no more opposition for Uncle Bill - that man was just so easy to get round. "I can put in a word for you at the apprentice programme I went to, if you like."

"That would be great," I watched as Scorpius' eyes lit up. "Thank you."

"How are you finding the Arithmancy NEWT?" My mother just had to add her input.

"Great," Scorpius grinned. "It's really interesting."

"And you're getting good grades?" My mother pressed.

"Of course," Scorpius exchanged a cheeky look with me that said '_Aren't you glad your family love me?'_. I grinned back seductively at him, knowing nobody else was looking. I felt his heart skip a beat as I leaned on him and knew my teasing was driving him crazy.

"You didn't seriously just ask that, did you, mum?" Hugo laughed, bringing us back to their conversation.

She looked confused until Lucy explained. "Scorpius and Rose have been huge academic rivals since they were first years."

"But I'm still winning," I grinned at Scorpius.

He wrapped his arms around me. "Only just."

"Just is just," I whispered in his ear.

"Okay, enough with the frickin' love story," Dom laughed. "Who wants to bet how long it takes Scorpius to crack because of us lot and break up with Rose?"

My other family members thought she was being funny, but I opted for levitating a pillow into her face.

"Shut up, Dom," I stuck my tongue out at her. She simply threw the pillow back at me and, the next time I levitated another into her face, she was ready for it. She grabbed it with the unnerving skill that can only come from being a Chaser or Keeper and threw it back a second time. My family were laughing now because we'd thoroughly messed up Nana Molly's "pillow order" in the living room. The second throw missed me (I also called on my Quidditch skills, which I normally used to avoid Bludgers).

Unfortunately for Scorpius, the pillow hit him squarely in the face.

Even I had to laugh at his quizzical expression - it seemed he was taken off guard.

"If you two have quite finished ruining my nice and tidy living room," Nana Molly joked as she returned to the room (her house was never tidy with us lot always about). "You might have realised that dinner is ready."

The kitchen had been charmed so that we could all fit nicely around the table.

I sat beside Scorpius, with Al on his other side and Aunt Ginny on my other side, and the others took their places around the table. Granddad Arthur sat opposite me and winked as we took our seats.

"I think he's perfect, Red Rose," he whispered across the table to me.

I smiled back in response. My granddad always made me feel like we were sharing a special secret.

The meal was actually not as uncomfortable as I thought it would be. I think most of my family members even forgot about the whole "_Rose is dating Scorpius_" thing for a while - they were so used to seeing him anyway it didn't matter to them.

_My dad could be so dramatic sometimes._

After a while Auntie Angie leaned across Aunt Ginny to talk to me. "I have to say, Rosie, you've handled your father quite well."

"It's not easy, Auntie A," I sighed, smiling.

"Knowing Ron it'll be your wedding before it really dawns on him that you're serious - that's when he'll have another overreaction," Uncle George joined the conversation.

"Yeah," Ginny laughed. "That's when he finally realised that Harry and I were a _couple_."

"At your _wedding_?" Lucy laughed.

"Wow, dad," Hugo smirked. "That _is _slow."

"Alright, Hugh," Our dad smiled in embarrassment. "It wasn't my quickest thinking…"

"Or your slowest," My mother grinned mischievously at him.

The rest of us just looked confused.

"Private joke," My mother informed us all, even Uncle Harry didn't have a clue what she was talking about. "Might tell you some day."

My father laughed with her and the look they shared proved to me that they would _never _tell us that story.

Something told me I really didn't want to hear it either.

I exchanged a mystified look with Scorpius. The corners of his lips twitched into his trademark smirk.

"_What?" _I mouthed to him.

"_Nothing," _He mouthed back playfully, tracing tantalizing circles on my leg.

My eyebrows creased together to show him I was confused, but I smiled too.

Once we'd all finished eating and had finally agreed that, yes, blatching _was_ the stupidest move _ever_ a Quidditch Player could make, we, somehow, found ourselves listening to Uncle Bill and Nana Molly arguing about his hair, _yet again._

Scorpius yawned unexpectedly.

"The poor boy's exhausted, Rosie," Granddad Arthur smiled at me. "I think it's time you all got to bed."

Us teenagers all but bolted up the stairs - we were free from listening to the same argument we'd heard a million and one times before. Any moment now would be Uncle Bill's line of "_But I _like_ it like this, mum._"

"Separate beds, mind you!" I heard my father yell as Scorpius and I, followed by a few of my cousins, wandered out into the hallway.

Scorpius and I, hands intertwined, laughed and ascended the staircase just as Uncle Harry's voice responded sarcastically to my fathers comment. "You can talk, Ron."

I heard the quick scuffling of feet and then Uncle Harry yell in pretend pain as the adults laughed.

I shook my head at my crazy family - I did _not _need that comment explained, unfortunately.

"They we're nice," Scorpius whispered as we turned to walk up the second flight of stairs that led to the room that him, Al, Louis and Fred were staying in.

"At least my father didn't hit you," I agreed.

"Maybe he'll think it over tonight and hit me in the morning," Scorpius added casually. "Or during the night, with Hugo."

I laughed at his bad attempt at a joke. "Very funny."

"Thank you," He smiled back as we reached the door. "I try."

I could hear the rest of my cousins a floor below us, saying goodnight to each other (I swear, it took hours - there were so many of us).

I sighed happily. "Well, I guess I'll see you in the-"

I was pushed up against the wall by Scorpius as his lips crashed onto mine. I kissed him back, obviously, but I was more than a little confused. After a few moments my brain decided that clear thinking was not for me and I wrapped my arms around him like normal.

Scorpius kissed me roughly, seemingly forgetting that he was much stronger than me for a moment as his fingers dug into my arm. I responded eagerly - it was different, he was always careful and I was bored of that.

The sound of my elder cousins tickling Lily only a few steps below us pulled me out of my reverie.

I pushed him away from me, but he was strong.

"Scorpius," I complained against his lips.

He pulled away, but remained leaning on the wall behind me. "Sorry," he breathed.

I smiled. "No problem."

For a minute there was only the sound of our breathing.

"I love you," Scorpius smiled weakly.

I believed him. Of course I did.

His eyes twinkled in the light from the floor below: they were the same colour as the legendary Malfoy eyes. His whole family were blonde and all the men had those same stormy grey eyes. Their genes were so predictable, unlike those from my family (except the ginger hair).

I had inherited the exact features my father had, whereas Hugo had taken his from our mother.

I wondered briefly what colour eyes and hair our child would have, if we had children - would it follow the Malfoy gene or be unpredictable like the Weasleys?

I blinked to clear my mind.

_Getting ahead of yourself a little, Rose._

"I love you too," I smiled back.

Scorpius kissed my neck affectionately. I couldn't help but giggle girlishly.

His lips trailed up my neck until they reached my lips again. I laughed against his lips as he whispered in my ear, "You drive me crazy sometimes, Rose Weasley," before kissing me again.

"Oh _please_," I heard Louis scoff from behind us.

Scorpius and I both sighed in annoyance. I dropped my leg from around his in a split second, and peered around Scorpius' shoulder.

"Why is it that people always interrupt us?" I asked him, even though the question was rhetorical and only for effect.

"Maybe that's a good thing," Hugo muttered protectively.

Scorpius kissed me quickly, lingering longer than necessary, and then hurried into the boys' room, winking at me as he went.

Louis, Fred, Hugo and Al all looked at me and shook their heads in disappointment.

"Oh, this coming from No Girlfriend, Cheater McCheaterson, 'Baby Boy' and Mr Hippocritical?"

I feign-glared at them each in turn, calling "Love you," to them as I left so that they knew I wasn't serious.

Half an hour or so later I was alone in my room. Today had been such a blur that I couldn't even remember what conversations I'd had this morning.

I sighed and looked out the huge window in the room that used to belong to Uncle George and Fred.

It was a beautiful place to build a house. The whole village of Ottery St. Catchpole were nice, and they were always willing to help. More than half of the residents had been _Obliviate_'d because they'd seen a broom flying slightly too high during one of our particularly enthusiastic Quidditch matches or because one of us had been blabbering about going to Hogwarts a little too loudly when we were younger.

The door opened, I heard the quiet creak, and then Al came and stood beside me.

He didn't say anything for a few minutes - and I didn't ask him to. We just stood side by side, looking out across the crops and fields that swayed in the wind.

"I'm an idiot."

I blinked a few times and then turned to him. "I'm sorry?"

"I'm an idiot," Al repeated. "I shouldn't have had a go at Scorpius the other day."

"No, you shouldn't have," I mumbled back at him.

"I should have realised that you two would have enough trouble as it is with the parents," Al continued. "He's a nice guy and he really does seem to care for you."

"He does care for me," I replied slowly.

"Of course he does," Al agreed. "That's what I'm saying."

"Right…"

"Right."

I looked at him then, and raised my eyebrows, the corners of my lips twitching into an amused smile. "So what made you realise that he actually loves me?" I asked.

"Well, for one because you guys were snogging the faces off of each other like there was no tomorrow earlier."

I glared at him. "And the second reason?"

"Because he told Uncle Ron."

I spun to face Al suddenly.

"He _what?_"

Al took a deep, dramatic breath, then smiled. "When he got here Uncle Ron and him were talking outside for a minute-"

"How do you know-"

"-Lily told me. Anyway," he smiled at me. "Apparently they were polite to start with, and then Uncle Ron got all annoyed, like he does. Lily and everyone-"

"Everyone?"

"They were all standing by the window and spying."

"Ahh-"

"Anyway, Lily and everyone thought that Scorpius would, I don't know, back down or something but he actually got annoyed too."

"Well what did they say?" I was desperate for specifics. Something _had_ seemed off, but I hadn't been able to put my finger on it. Now I knew - they'd been _normal_ - respectful - around each other.

"Lily didn't know," Al mumbled.

"Come _on,_ Al," I sighed impatiently. "This house is hardly sound proof."

"Okay," Al was so easy to cave sometimes. "Uncle Ron said something about Scorpius being a Malfoy and so _'bad blood'_ or something and then Scorpius said that he obviously didn't have the same ideas about blood as 'the older generations' because otherwise he wouldn't be dating you-"

"Ouch," I interrupted. "Dad does not like to be argued with."

"I know, right?" Al grinned at me, which didn't help the situation.

The floorboards outside my door creaked and we heard somebody go into the bathroom across the landing.

Al continued in a whisper. "Scorpius told Uncle Ron that if his mum and his dad and your mum and all the rest of us could get past this dramatic '_history_' everybody has been dragging out, why couldn't he?"

I couldn't help but smile. "Clever boy," I whispered.

"Well, Uncle Ron was speechless, so… pretty clever," Al agreed. "And then Scorpius said that the only important thing should be that it's a miracle that the two of _you _got past the history enough to even be friends, let alone date, because you've… _disliked _each other since I became friends with him."

"Then what?" I was so wrapped up in what Al was saying I forgot to keep my voice down.

Al '_shhh'd' _me and glanced towards the door.

"Then he said that he was blessed to have even found somebody who he loved as much as he loved you…"

"He…" I didn't know what to say to Al about that. I finally thought of something to say after three long, silent minutes. "In front of my _father_?"

"Even worse," Al grinned. "_To_ your father."

I smiled weakly back at my cousin.

I couldn't believe Scorpius had told my father that he loved me. To his face. And I hadn't even realised. _How had I completely missed this?_

With any boy it would be risky telling my dad that they loved his daughter, but for a Malfoy? For a Malfoy whilst my father was already on edge? It's potential suicide.

"He _really _likes you, Rose," Al whispered. "I don't know who I'm more worried about now."

I sent him a confused look. _What did that mean?_

Al walked towards the door. I turned to face him before he left, still puzzled.

"Just… don't break _his _heart_, _Rosie," Al mumbled before the door closed behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>I had to have Al at the end. I love him, and Fred, and I just had to. Also, possibly my favourite thing about this chapter is Arthur Weasley - I was close to my granddad and they're childish nature and curiousity are exactly the same. So Rose's relationship with him is based on that. I hope you liked this. I'm sure you've all read FFs where Ron goes <em>mental<em>. This is one of the ways I saw it, one of the less angsty ways (after all, this story isn't exactly angsty! LOL), and I'd love to know your thoughts.**

**Thank you all!**


	22. Different Returns

**Hey again! So sorry this is so late! Completely lost track of the days, and I've been super busy and now I'm rather ill, but still... finally found the time to get this up! **This is mostly a filler chapter.** I hope you like it! :D**

* * *

><p><em>Rose's POV<em>

Scorpius left early the next morning; he was going to his cousins wedding.

Teddy and him spent much of breakfast joking that it was Teddy's second wedding to his second wife, because he was also, technically, Scorpius' cousin (only he was Scorpius' first cousin once removed, not his second cousin… but still, minor technicalities).

Victoire was nowhere to be seen - Teddy mentioned to only Fleur, Ginny, my mother and me that Victoire was feeling ill. He only mentioned the comment in passing and didn't even look concerned. The rest of us, however, had a hunch that our dear Tory wasn't just ill.

I exchanged an excited look with Aunt Ginny - we would both _love_ an addition to our family.

By the time Scorpius had left, Al, Louis, Fred, Roxanne, Uncle George, Lucy, Uncle Harry, my father and Teddy had already planned a Quidditch match. They offered me position as Seeker on Roxanne's team, but I didn't feel like a match.

I spent the morning with my Nana, mother and Aunts Angie and Ginny baking cakes and cookies.

"Rosie," my mother called across the kitchen to me. "Could you turn the cooker down for me? I don't want those cookies to burn."

"Sure thing," I called and did as she said whilst humming the tune to Celestina Warbeck's '_You Charmed the Heart Right Out of Me'._

We weren't using magic to make the food - sometimes we enjoyed simply using the Muggle way.

Ginny and Nana Molly were standing by the table, cutting out shapes of cookies from dough with plastic stars and hearts whilst my mother and Angie decorated the baked cookies and cupcakes with sprinkles and icing.

I took a seat beside Nana Molly. "Great choice of song, Rosie," she smiled at me.

I grinned back. "It's been in my head since they played it three times in a row on Valentine's Day."

"They played '_A Cauldron Full of Hot, Strong Love'_ a lot too," my mum commented.

"Yeah," I agreed. "Scorpius kept trying to get me to dance." I smiled at the memory.

"I didn't think he could dance," Angie mentioned.

"He can do practically everything," I sighed. "It's almost unfair."

They laughed.

"You had a good Valentine's Day then?" My mother smiled. "I think this is the first time I've ever heard you talk about that day without grimacing."

I chuckled at that. "I feel like a lot has changed this past year."

"It has," Ginny agreed. "Tory and Teddy got _married_, Hugo and Lily are prefects, James has a job and a _girlfriend_, Harry finally fixed that leak in our bathroom and you're dating Scorpius."

"I'm so relieved dad knows," I sighed in relief. "I've been dreading telling him for ages."

My mother came and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Your father makes a big deal about the Malfoys but he would put it all aside for you or Hugo, Rosie."

"I know he would," I smiled back at her.

"In fact, he _has_," Nana Molly reminded us all. "Apart from the yelling yesterday and then again when Scorpius first got…"

She appeared to realise that I wasn't supposed to know about that. I smiled.

"Don't worry, Nana, I already know," They looked at me with confusion etched into their faces. "Al told me."

They nodded, understanding. Al and I were pretty close so obviously he would have told me.

"I have to say," Angie grinned. "I'm impressed that Scorpius shouted back. He really held his own."

"He really must like you Rose," My mother laughed. "Only people who have a strong reason to argue back will argue against Ron."

"I thought you guys argued all the time when you were younger?" I questioned.

"Well…" my mother squirmed under our gazes. "We just didn't want to admit that we liked each other more than friends, I suppose."

"That's probably why you and Scorpius _always_ argued," Molly added her own opinion as she joined us at the table, placing the book she was reading upside down to hold her page.

My mother got up to get the next batch of cookies out of the cooker and Ginny put a new tray into the cooker.

"Probably," I sighed. "He just…" I made an impatient noise. "He just got on my nerves so much."

They laughed.

"Well, now you can argue less," Nana Molly said.

"Actually, I think we argue just as much as before," I said. "We just don't take it so personally."

"That was the same with me and Ron," my mother smiled. "Although there was a weird transition between arguing out of annoyance like we had for years and arguing because we were confused about our feelings."

"I think you guys argued more than you ever had in that period," Ginny added. "It was kind of scary. But it only lasted about a week, so that was okay."

They both laughed over the memory - even Nana Molly's lips twitched into a smile.

"What about you, Molly," I asked, turning to my quite cousin. "What's going on with you?"

"Yes," Ginny laughed. "Let's move on from Rose's life - she's had enough attention."

I agreed with her whilst they all laughed.

"Not much really," Molly sighed. "School, Apparating Lessons, a bit of Quidditch…"

"Since when were you into Quidditch?" I asked.

"Well, you know Luke Robin?" She started. I nodded. "He's been talking to me a lot recently and he asked me to go to a Quidditch match with him the other day."

"Really?" I grinned. "I haven't known Luke to ask anybody anything. He's so quiet."

"Just like you, Mols," Auntie Angie commented.

"I know!" She looked very excited. "And I liked Quidditch anyway, I just wasn't very interested in it. But I figured, I might as well read up on it a little for the sake of the match."

"That sounds like a good idea," I agreed as I saw a group of figures in the distance walking towards the house. "It looks like they're back."

The others turned to look out the window too.

"It looks like they are," Nana Molly agreed. "We better get this all cleared up."

We used magic to tidy the kitchen so that it was clean before the others had a chance to reach the house and spread the flour about or knock over the box of sprinkles.

"Who won?" Granddad Arthur asked as he joined us in the kitchen, returning form his tool shed, at the same time the others did.

"We did!" Uncle Harry grinned - Roxanne, Lucy and my dad looked please whilst the others didn't.

"Only by ten points," Al grumbled.

Uncle Harry pulled his son towards him - Al was the spitting image of him - and ruffled his hair. "Don't be upset, Al, you'll win next time."

"We will," Al agreed. "If Scorpius was here we would have won easily."

"Or if Rose had played," Teddy added. "She's pretty awesome."

"You should really consider joining the Chudley Cannons," my father grinned at me. "I bet you'd get in."

"Wouldn't that just complete your dreams, Ronald?" My mother laughed, kissing him on the cheek.

"Or, better yet," Aunt Ginny interrupted. "The Holyhead Harpies."

"No offence, mum," James smirked as he entered the room with Lily. "But the Chudley Cannons would be a much better team to join."

Ginny pretended to look hurt, then she said, "Shut up, James."

"Oh, I only mean because then she wouldn't have to live up to your excellent standards," James smiled at his mother, his friendly sarcasm evident in his tone, obviously not wanting to be demoted to chicken feeder this week.

"Nice," Uncle George praised him jokingly.

Lily came and sat beside me.

"How's things going with Sam, Lils?" I asked quietly.

She looked surprised for a moment. "Not too good," she sighed.

"What's wrong?" I asked, genuinely surprised.

"Nothing really," she looked a little upset. "It's just not really going anywhere… And he's always busy."

I gave her a apologetic look. "Does he know you feel like that?"

"I suppose not," she laughed. "Maybe I should talk to him."

"Yeah, it couldn't hurt," I agreed.

She hesitated, then breathed. "There's something I need to tell you-"

Lucy and Molly called me over to the doorway just then. I stood up, giving Lily an apologetic look but she came with me anyway, and joined them.

"What's up?"

"Want to help us prank the boys?" Molly smiled at me. We weren't very close, but I felt like our short conversation earlier about Luke Robin had helped our relationship grow a little.

"Sure," I agreed. Lily beckoned Roxanne and Dom over too and we all headed upstairs to plot the first prank in the tradition of Boys vs. Girls Easter Holidays Showdown.

* * *

><p><em>Scorpius' POV<em>

I hated weddings.

Actually, I hated my extended family. And a wedding where they would all be was not exactly what I wanted to be doing right at this moment.

We had arrived at the church in good time and, therefore, had to sit around for about half an hour before the service began. It was incredibly boring so I spent the time pulling faces at my sister and trying to make her laugh - then acting all innocent and pinning the disobedience on Claire, something which she also found incredibly amusing.

My mother was extremely annoyed with me by the end of the service and had '_stern words_' with me before we joined the rest of our incredibly boring, dull, prejudice family at the reception.

I couldn't care less what our extended family thought of me, but she was all about appearances.

Claire looked so cute in her little pink princess dress and tiara that I couldn't help but bow whenever I saw her and address her as '_princess'_. She laughed at this and I enjoyed being the funny, adoring elder brother.

Being the most boring, stuck up people I ever knew, the rest of my family looked on scornfully and disapprovingly. I didn't care. I even danced with her and four other five year olds from my family to the Bob the Builder theme tune at one point.

Yes, I'd had a _little_ bit of Fire Whiskey.

Which probably helped when my grandfather arrived, only, oh, two hours after the ceremony, and came to greet me.

"Scorpius," he began, his voice just as cold as normal.

"Lucius," I imitated him, a small hint mocking evident in my tone.

"That's '_Grandfather'_ to you," He pressed sternly.

"I'd rather just call you Lucius," I replied simply, not even bothering to keep up a front of politeness.

Luckily my grandmother, who actually does like me, appeared then, sparing me the effort of having to think up an excuse to leave the conversation.

"Grandmother," I smiled, giving her a quick hug.

My grandfather looked around us to check nobody had seen our apparently outrageous behaviour - he acted as if a hug was illegal and improper.

"Oh, relax, Lucius," My grandmother sighed, but I could tell she was careful with what she said. Lucius Malfoy was less motivated to control his temper than Draco. "I'm simply giving my grandchild a hug."

"Claire's with father," I informed them, half hoping that my grandfather would leave in search of them. He didn't.

"How is school, Scorpius?" My grandmother continued fussing over me - it wasn't nearly as full of love as Nana Molly's fussing was, but it was still out-of-the-ordinary for the Malfoys. "NEWT year is important, remember."

"I remember, Grandmother," I smiled. "My studies are going well and I've even arranged a part-time job once I leave Hogwarts."

"You have?" My grandfather looked surprised - he was probably wondering how I ever got anything done without him.

"How did you manage it so quickly?"

"Bill Weasley offered me the help once he found out I want to be a Curse Breaker," I answered. My grandfather immediately stiffened beside my grandmother.

"You accepted _help_ from a _Weasley_?"

"Of course," I replied curtly, barely glancing at my grandfather. I could practically hear the steam evaporating from his ears.

"Scorpius," my grandmother started slowly, carefully. Lucius Malfoy and I had two very contrasting opinions about our family and blood status in society and my poor grandmother happened to be the one stuck between those two opinions currently. "Given your grandfather's opinion on the Weasleys and his history with them do you really think it wise to be owing them favours?"

"Of course," I replied again. Then I turned to my grandfather with a secretive smirk which I'd inherited from him and spoke my next words to my grandmother. "Lucius doesn't know nearly half of what goes on between me and the Weasleys."

I pretended I was being called by my mother.

"It was nice to see you grandmother," I finished, ignoring both of their quizzical expressions. "Goodbye Lucius."

And I wandered off to the drinks table, hoping I wouldn't bump into the trivial man again in the next few months unless it was absolutely necessary.

After I'd had some punch I approached my cousin, the groom, to congratulate him. I actually liked Abraxas Greengrass and I was glad he had found a nice girl to settle down with.

He smiled and laughed and greeted me with respect, introducing me to his new wife with joy and enthusiasm.

Once I had got the formalities over with Abraxas was happy to have a drink of Fire Whiskey with me and talk about Hogwarts and Quidditch.

"I tell you, Scorpius," he was saying. "Hogwarts goes by so quickly and then you wake up and find you've got a career, an apartment and are getting married to that girl of your dreams."

"I… suppose so," I laughed. He was a little bit drunk, but not much.

"Seriously," he grinned. "Your girlfriend won't even notice either. You've got a girlfriend, right?"

"Yep," I nodded.

"I thought so," he laughed. "A good-looking guy like yourself wouldn't be single."

I laughed again as Claire came over to join us.

"Mummy wants to leave soon," Claire told me. "She says that she doesn't want to '_be near any more of these blasted relatives_' for much longer."

I covered Claire's mouth with my hand, hoping he hadn't heard my little sister reciting my mothers words. Thankfully, Abraxas simply laughed.

"I know what she means, Clairie," he smiled, ruffling her hair as I pulled her onto my lap. "To be honest, I only invited the _frivolous _people to appease my father."

"But Claire," I made sure I stopped her from spreading my mothers words around again and to the wrong people. "Don't tell anybody else what we've just said, or what mummy said, okay? It'll be our little secret."

"Okay," she smiled, not even realising how important it was - she was already passed it. "What can we talk about then?"

"Well, we're talking about Scorpius' girlfriend," Abraxas grinned.

"Oh, she's really nice," Claire smiled. "I really like Rose."

"There's a 'Rose' in your year?" Abraxas asked me casually. He knew practically everybody, including those at Hogwarts. I opened my mouth to say Merlin knows what, but realisation beat me to it. "Oh my Merlin… Rose _Weasley_?"

"Shh…" I tried to get him to be quiet. "They'll go mental."

I obviously meant the rest of our pureblood extended family. I thought that he was going to go crazy as well, but he didn't.

"You want to know a secret, Scorpius?" He whispered after a minute and only a slight hesitation, indicating that I should move closer to him. I did so and he muttered so quietly I could hardly hear him. "Jenny's a muggleborn."

"She is?" I was so shocked.

"Don't tell anybody," Abraxas smiled at me. "Even my parents think she's a half-blood, and they had a fit over that too. It took a lot of persuading to let me marry her. Jenny and her parents love the idea of us having a secret over this wretched family."

I grinned. "Why tell _me _then?" I asked purely out of curiosity.

"You keep my secret, I'll keep yours," He said simply.

"Agreed," I laughed.

He slapped me on the back as my mother and father joined us.

"Congratulations so much on the wedding," my mother smiled at him. "but we really must be going. It was wonderful and Jenny is absolutely charming."

"Thank you Astoria," he smiled. "I think I'll go find her actually. Later, bro," he called the last bit to me as he left.

"Let's leave before my father decides to corner us again," my father hurried us out of the reception hall.

"You too, huh?" I grinned at his reaction to his own father.

Abraxas Greengrass passed us again as we left, high fiving me as another goodbye.

"You two seem to be good friends," my father commented as we walked out the door.

"Let's just say we have some common interests," I laughed.

* * *

><p><em>Rose's POV<em>

It was the Sunday before we returned to Hogwarts and I had been on edge all day. All during dinner I had spaced out and forgot to pay attention to the conversations I was supposed to be in or I had constantly dropped the food or cutlery.

To be honest, I think I was mostly worried about how Hogwarts would view my relationship with Scorpius when we returned. The students were usually much gossipier once they'd visited their families and had been away from their friends for a while. And now that they'd had time to review and fully validate the news, I was worried they were about to turn on me.

And, no, I didn't mean they'd attack me in the night.

I meant the more obvious glares would start when I returned. Whispers and rumours would be revisited and our surprise relationship (as Dom and Uncle George had put it) would actually reach those last few people who hadn't really been listening the first time they were told.

I was sat on the floor of my room, repacking my trunk, when my mother knocked on the door.

We had left the Burrow a few days ago to spend the last few days of the holiday together at our own home and have a little bit of peace and quiet.

I put my packing to the side, having packed and repacked at least three times already, and climbed onto my bed. My mother sat beside me.

"Rose," she began. "I wanted to talk to you about Scorpius."

_Did people suddenly think he was the _only_ thing in my life at the moment?_

"Okay…" I started, unsure. If she was going to try and get me to break up with him or something I would be seriously annoyed. "What about him?"

"Oh, it's nothing terrible," she reassured me. "I just wanted to know what… where you guys were."

"Okay…" I repeated again, still unsure of where this conversation was going.

I loved my mum and everything, after all, she was simply loveable, but sometimes she could make no sense. For a genius, she could be kind of slow.

"You've been on edge all day, Rose," she began. "I was just wondering whether everything was okay?"

"Oh yeah," I smiled. "It's fine."

"Lily thinks you might be having '_Scorpius-withdrawal-symptoms'_," She looked genuinely worried, like it was an actual disease.

I laughed. "That sounds like something Lily would say."

"Is it true?"

"I think it might be," I smiled back at my mother, then joked. "I haven't seen him for a whole _week_, mum."

She chuckled. "You'll see him tomorrow though."

"Yeah, I will," I agreed, smiling.

"And you really like him?" She pressed.

I sighed. "Why does everybody keep asking me that? Do you think that maybe if you ask it so many times I might just give up and say '_Actually, I don't'_ or something?"

"No, Rosie," She quickly calmed me down, stroking my hair. "I was just making sure. I know you wouldn't lie to me about anything. So do you like him?"

"I love him, mum," I told her, only half embarrassed that I was telling my mother this.

She sighed patiently. "I thought as much."

"Is that a problem?" I knew my faced showed my anxiousness at her answer.

"Of course not, Rosie Pie," my mother smiled. "I just like to know these things about my children. You know Hugo wants to be an Astronomer?"

She grinned in a '_boys are unbelievable'_ way.

"I know," I laughed.

"And your relationship with Scorpius isn't interfering with your grades?" She checked - what a typical _Hermione Weasley_ thing to say.

"Of course not," I grinned. "In fact, I think they've improved."

"Is that possible?" My mother laughed.

"Well, we do homework together," I told her. "Not like we copy each other or anything, we just sit together while we do it and he tells me all the stuff I don't know and I tell him all the stuff he doesn't know."

"That… seems like a good schedule," She laughed. "I could never get your father to do his homework. I had to practically force him to do it, and then correct it for him once he'd written it out."

I laughed. "That is definitely something dad would do."

"I also had to make him revision plans for when the OWLs came around," she added.

"What about NEWTs?" I asked.

"He didn't return for his NEWTs in the end," she sighed. "Neither did Harry."

"That must have been weird," I commented. "Going back to Hogwarts without them."

"Incredibly weird," she agreed. "But I had Ginny and they visited."

I smiled. "Is there anything else, mum? Because I think I should get to bed."

"Yes, actually," she said gently. "I thought maybe you might want to know about our history with Draco Malfoy and his aunt, Bellatrix Lestrange."

As she said that last name, she shivered.

"Has this got something to do with your scar?" I asked carefully. The thin scar along my mothers neck was something we never mentioned, having grown used to her crying about it when we were younger.

"It has, actually," she told me calmly.

So she told me.

She started with Uncle Harry's relationship with Draco, and how they were sworn enemies since their First Year. She told me about the time Draco called her a mud blood and my dad had tried to defend her, only to result in him vomiting slugs. She told me about the time her teeth were charmed to grow at an alarming rate and how she had Madame Pomfrey grow them back slightly smaller than they had been before.

Then she started to talk, in brief notes, about her, Harry and my fathers time on the run when they were seventeen. She told me only about their trip to Malfoy Manor in detail and I couldn't believe what I was hearing about this Bellatrix woman.

"So really, our family don't have a problem much with the immediate Malfoys - although the situation with Lucius Malfoy is a completely different story - they were actually on indifferent terms with Draco last time we saw him… it's just Bellatrix Lestrange and the fact that the memory of her and Voldemort accompanies our memory of the Malfoys."

"So…" I was shocked afterwards. "Where is this Bellatrix woman now?"

"Dead," my mother sighed, relieved.

"Who killed her?" I asked - I couldn't help it… my curiosity peaked.

"Nana Molly did," she smile weakly at this. I blinked in surprise._ My **Nana**?_ "Bellatrix almost killed Ginny and, as you can imagine, that made Molly _very _annoyed."

"I would think so…" I mumbled. "Nana Molly always goes on about how much she wanted a girl and how glad she was that she got Ginny. Well, she always follows that with '_Imagine my surprise when Hermione here was adopted into the family also! Two daughters for all the pain in childbirth of one!'_."

We laughed about that.

"Mum…" I muttered quietly. "Are you alright?"

She smiled. "I'm fine, Rosie. It was a long time ago and so much has changed since then. And I had your father to help me get through it - Merlin knows he was the only thing that kept me sane for a while after the War. Him and Harry and all the rest of the Weasleys, too."

"That's good," I smiled - I was glad my mother had met my father - it seemed like him and Uncle Harry were her whole life when she was younger. _I shuddered at the thought of what things could have been like for her if one of them had died._

"You better get to sleep, darling," my mother announced after a few moments of comfortable silence. "Scorpius awaits you tomorrow."

I laughed. "I guess he does."

* * *

><p>We were delayed in the morning - Hugo had lost one of his favourite pair of trainers and wouldn't leave until he found it (it was under his bed), my mother couldn't find her wand or remember where she'd told the Potter's we'd meet them, my father got up late and ended up running around in a panic five minutes before we were scheduled to leave, looking frantically for his trousers, and I simply tripped every time I got up and collected a nice variety of bruises throughout my body.<p>

By the time we reached the station the Hogwarts Express was scheduled to leave in the next ten minutes.

The rest of our family stood in our usual spot, panicking that we would miss the train, until we finally arrived and they saw us.

"Sorry we're late!" My father called over the noise of the many people at the station.

"You're here now and that's what counts," Granddad Arthur smiled optimistically.

"You be good Hugo, and you Rosie," Nana Molly hugged us before handing us over to the rest of our family. It seemed our cousins were already on the train. Hugh and I were hugged and kissed and given various advice by the elder members of our family quickly and then passed back to our parents.

"Hugo, be good and try to find yourself a girlfriend," my father joked. "And you, Rose, well… I would say be good but you always are. And I would say no boys but you've already got a boyfriend so… just keep safe."

"Love you dad," I laughed, hugging him and then my mother.

Hugo jumped onto the train and disappeared.

"Have a great end of year," my mother told me before directing me towards the train as the last whistle blew.

"Bye you lot!" I called to them before jumping onto the train and waving goodbye.

The Hogwarts Express rolled away from the station and I turned and wandered down the corridor to find my family.

They were in their usual carriage, being as noisy as ever. I passed Hugo's friends Chris and Tom on the way and greeted them happily. They smiled back at me and told me where to find Hugo.

As I entered the compartment I could hear Hugo explaining our morning and, thus, why we were so late.

Scorpius was sitting on the left, right next to the door, reading the Quibbler upside down. I went and took my seat in his lap.

"Hi," I sighed happily, wrapping my arms around him. "The crossword's always the same and they apparently found the Crumple Horned Snorkack ages ago."

"Hey," He grinned back, his smile practically reaching his eyes. "I was actually reading up about Nargles."

"Ah," I responded sarcastically. "A _good _use of your time."

He shot me a dry '_thanks_' look.

"I've missed you," we both spoke at the same time.

I laughed and bent to kiss him. He took my face in his hands and kissed me too.

"And now begins the period in which Rose and Scorpius will no longer be listening to a word we say whilst they catch up," Lily sighed.

"Ha ha, very funny," I responded. "Of course we'll be listening."

"We heard you speak just now, didn't we?" Scorpius added.

Lily laughed. "Alright, you've got me beat."

"Anyone want to play a little Exploding Snap?" Hugo proposed suddenly, evidently hoping Lily would agree.

"Oh no!" we all chorused.

"What's with the sudden change in heart, Weasleys?" Scorpius was the only one looking confused.

"Lets just say that after Teddy got his eyebrows singed off two days ago… well, nobody wants to risk a game with Hugo," Fred laughed.

"Gotcha," Scorpius replied simply, leaning back in his seat.

"Want to go somewhere quiet and talk?" I breathed into his ear after a minute or two of listening to Roxanne and Fred arguing over the talent (or lack of) that Dragomir Gorgovitch possessed.

We didn't stay in the compartment with my family - we went to find our own privacy - we weren't Al and Alice (only joking…sort of, they were prone to random make-out sessions right in front of us all).

There were plenty of empty carriages, only around half the school left for Easter break, and we drew the blinds of one of these instead.

He told me all about his fathers reaction and that Draco was now going to Anger Management Therapy and I, in return, told him about my father's reaction (although I edited out many of the comments of my Uncle Bill and some of the things they said about the Malfoy's).

We laughed a lot: mostly about Abraxas and Scorpius' stuck-up family but also about my cousins and Teddy and Tory's possible situation (Uncle Bill was going to be _mad _if Tory was really in the situation we thought she was in).

We lied side by side across one of the benches, looking up at the dull wooden ceiling of the train compartment.

"It's strange…" I mumbled after a minute of peaceful silence.

"Everybody knowing?" Scorpius supplied.

"Hmm," I agreed. "After all the secrecy… everybody just _knows _now."

Scorpius snorted. "A year ago to the day we were jinxing each other to grow second heads."

"Was that really only a year ago?" I laughed at the memory.

"Yep," he told me. "Hogwarts Express journey back to Hogwarts after the Easter Break."

I laughed again. "How do you even _remember _that?"

"I guess there was a reason I picked on you all the time…" He mumbled.

I sat up and turned to stare at him.

"What?"

_Did he mean what I thought he meant?_

He sat up too. "I mean, I've sort of always thought you were pretty."

"You're joking, right?" I stuttered.

"Nope," He chuckled, ruffling my hair affectionately. "I didn't tell anyone - Al would have gone mental and the Slytherins would have just laughed and called me a loser. Besides, we _hated_ each other so it was just… strange."

I laid back down, think that new information through carefully, and so did he.

"Do you think, if you'd acted on that thing you had for me a few years earlier… do you think we would have ended up like this?" I asked, curious.

"I don't know," he muttered. "It probably would have just freaked you out, but…"

"But?" I pressed gently.

"But some people and things are just meant to be," he finished.

I sighed happily. "You know what? Sometimes I think they are."

He took my hand and started playing with my fingers. I turned onto my stomach to look at him and he grinned.

"You're so pretty," he whispered.

I smiled, "You're just saying that because you want me to kiss you."

"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," he laughed as I bent to kiss him.

* * *

><p>The light outside started to dim and I checked the time. We would be arriving at Hogwarts within the next ten minutes so Scorpius and I reluctantly broke apart and pulled on our robes. When we exited our compartment we left with our hands intertwined and called the First Years to order together.<p>

"Follow us to the carriages," I called out and we led the way, as is tradition. The First Years had been up to the castle on the boats the first time they'd arrived at Hogwarts but had used the carriages before if they had gone home for Christmas. We still had to show them the way though, it was our duty as Head Girl and Boy.

Well, I say '_we', _but Scorpius mostly made jokes and tried to distract me by whispering in my ear or stroking my arm whilst _I_ helped out the First Years.

By the time we'd cleared the area of First Years there weren't many students left - they were mostly Sixth and Seventh Years.

We climbed into a carriage and sat side by side, talking quietly in whispers and laughing about the stories that we told each other about the past week, including the many pranks I, along with the other girl cousins, had played on the boys. The Sixth Year Hufflepuff girls who shared our carriage kept sending us weird looks: I couldn't decide whether they were from jealousy, confusion or simply annoyance.

By the time the carriage reached Hogwarts, one of them had gathered up enough courage to speak to us.

"Excuse me, sorry," she began politely. "My name's Joanne and, I know it's none of my business, but you know what gossip is like at Hogwarts…"

I smiled at her. "We do, yes."

"Well, is it true that you guys are dating?" She asked hesitantly. "Cause, I mean, it _looks_ like you're dating but you can never be sure-"

"Yeah, we are," Scorpius interrupted her casually.

"Oh right," the girls friend spoke up. "Cool…"

They both, along with their other friend who hadn't spoken, looked slightly awkward as they climbed out of the carriage. I caught Joanne's hand before she stepped completely out.

"Hey," I said calmly. "Thanks for asking. You know, rather than just staring at as for a week and believing all the gossip you hear."

She smiled at me. "No problem, Rose."

Scorpius climbed out of the carriage after me and took my hand again. "It seems like even Hogwarts is changing these days."

"Tell me about it…" I agreed.

* * *

><p>We wandered up the Grand Staircase, Scorpius lifting me up and over the trick step just before my foot went through it, and along the deserted Seventh Floor corridor until we reached the sleeping Fat Lady.<p>

"I'm glad we're back," Scorpius smiled at me.

"Me too," I said. "I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"First thing," he reassured me.

"See you tomorrow then," I mumbled reluctantly, turning away.

"Rose?"

"Hmm?" I asked as I turned back.

He pulled me towards him and kissed me gently, brushing my hair away from my face and tucking it behind my ear.

"See you tomorrow."

I beamed as he pulled away and breathed, "And I didn't even have to tell you that you looked pretty."

He chuckled.

* * *

><p>The next morning, at breakfast, the students of Hogwarts were incredibly noisy.<p>

Fred, Molly, Roxanne, Dom and Angie were discussing the latest gossip at Hogwarts - Charlie De Paolo was part werewolf (to be honest I didn't put much stock in that…).

The other members of my family were talking about NEWTs and OWLs along with the upcoming Quidditch matches. Scorpius and I were reading the _Daily Prophet _together.

The front page read _'Scandal at Ministry of Magic causes 'setbacks''._ The moving image showed the entrance to the Ministry and hundreds of worried, stressed wizards making their way into and out of the building. The article itself was relatively boring and it was obvious that the event the _Prophet_ were calling a scandal was nothing more than an unfortunate incident involving the Minister of Magic's daughter and a bad-tempered Owl.

"I swear it gets more dramatic every day," I laughed, tossing the paper towards Scorpius, who promptly lobbed it across the table to Al.

"Ginny's column is still good though," Scorpius observed.

"That's true," I agreed. "It's probably the only reason I still get the paper."

Just as I finished speaking the remaining post flew into the hall and the room was filled with the sound of hundreds of birds.

I was surprised to see Victoire's owl, Veela, and even more surprised when it landed in front of me.

"Oh," I mumbled, carefully taking the letter off of the owl and offering it some cereal. It didn't seem satisfied with the food I offered and promptly took off. "I wonder why Tory's writing to me…"

I pulled the bow off of the letter and unrolled it. Victoire's usually neat handwriting was barely discernable, but I still managed to read the letter.

_Dear Rosie,_

_I really need your help._

_You've probably guessed by now why I've been so ill recently, I know you have. You know full well that I'm pregnant and I'm sure Aunt Hermione, Ginny and Angie know because they are all psychic about this sort of thing. I told my mother the other day and she was thrilled… but I haven't told my father (he's going to flip)… or Teddy._

_I really, really need your help, Rosie._

_What am I supposed to do?_

_I am actually freaking out. I don't know what to do and, when I'm normally stuck, I ask Teddy about things - after all, he is my best friend. But I really can't ask him about this, because he's the problem. He's the one who got me into the situation and I am almost angry with him - is that irrational? I can't help it._

_When do I tell him? What if he's upset? What do I do once I've told him? Am I ready to be a mother?_

_I have _no_ idea how to handle this situation… HELP!_

_Okay, so… good points? It's _Teddy_ that got me into this, thank Merlin! I mean, I absolutely love Teddy with all my heart and we _are _married. We were planning on a family, but when I'm faced with the reality… well, I'm panicking._

_Bad points? I'm going to be a terrible mother, I just know it. Teddy will be great - everybody loves him so why shouldn't his son or daughter?_

_I need to talk to you at some point and I know you've got to be at Hogwarts and everything but do you mind if I come visit you tonight? I'll meet you in the Gryffindor Common Room at seven?_

Please_ say yes!_

_Your favourite, loving, freaking-out cousin,_

_Victoire._

_P.s. Don't tell anybody yet, only Dom and Lou - I need to talk to them with you too!_

I smiled, quickly scribbling back a note to say that this evening was fine, and tied it to Roxanne's owl just before it made it's exit with her toast.

Victoire was known to panic about anything and everything. She would be a great mother: I knew it, she knew it, we all knew it.

"What's she saying?" Al asked across the table. Fred tried to lean over and read the letter, but I crumbled it up to hide it from him.

"Nothing," I told them suspiciously. "She just said that we haven't spoken for a while and asked how I was… you know, because she was ill so I didn't get to see her much recently."

"Liar," Fred stated. "Let us see it."

He made a grab for the letter.

"No," I told him again, moving my hand so that he grabbed at thin air. "It's nothing to do with you."

"Come on, Rose!" Al pleaded, also trying to grab the letter.

I knew they'd get it eventually if I didn't do something so I stuck it in my mouth.

"Eww," Roxanne and Lily laughed.

"That's gross, Rose," Molly agreed with them.

"SallIcudfinkof," I mumbled.

"Er, what?" Scorpius chuckled.

I spat the wet, chewed up letter into my cereal bowl where it promptly sunk in the milk.

"It's all I could think of doing," I repeated again. Then, "Eurgh, that paper is disgusting."

Scorpius poured me a drink of pumpkin juice whilst he laughed.

"Sometimes I wonder why I'm even friends with you lot," he mumbled as the bell went for first lesson.

"You'd miss us too much," Alice joked.

"I'm willing to give it a try," Scorpius said, joking also. "So long as I can keep Rose."

He draped his arms over my shoulders as we all stood up to make our way to our next lessons.

"Hey! You were my friend first," Al complained, but we all ignored him.

"Love trumps all," Lily joked, the only one to answer him.

"Oh no," Hugo smiled, addressing Scorpius. "You can have none of us, or all of us."

The rest of us laughed as we exited the hall, but in the back of my mind was the worry I felt for my cousin. She would be fine - but I didn't want _her _to worry or stress herself out.

I sighed._ There was nothing I could do right now._

I'd have to calm her down later.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! My love for you guys may actually be near the scale of my love for Chris Colfer. Which is a lot - He's flawless. Anyways, I'd love a review?<strong>


	23. Dinner With The Parents

**I'm so sorry this has taken so long to update! I didn't realise how long it had been! If you were eagerly awaiting a next chapter, thank alex4879 for reminding me! :D**

**I hope you enjoy this. This story is coming near an end now. Only 3 chapters left, and the epilogue, when I get round to writing it.**

* * *

><p>It wasn't until after lunch that I was able to track down Dom and Louis, even if it was in the middle of a busy corridor.<p>

A group of Fourth Year Gryffindor boys were trying out the different sweets in the new Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Skiving Snackboxes, two girls from Hufflepuff were swapping items of WonderWitch merchandise right in the middle of the corridor and another group of seven or eight boys were playing around with a Headless Hat. Navigating my way past a boy who appeared not to have a head, I managed to reach Louis, albeit being shoved quite a bit.

I barked at them to calm down or I'd give them detention with Argus Filch for the next three weeks, and turned to where my cousin was standing.

"Hey!" I yelled, grabbing on to Louis' arm before he could disappear into the crowds of students.

"What the hell!-Oh, hey, Rose," Louis went from annoyed at somebody having the nerve to grab him to being happy to see me in the same sentence.

"Hey, come with me," I told him quickly. I needed somewhere a little quieter to speak without having to shout.

"Why are we-"

"Just come, Louis," I grinned. "It'll only take a second, I promise."

He grudgingly left his mates to attempt at flirting with some Sixth Year girls (to tell you the truth Louis could win their hearts any day) and followed me down the corridor in the opposite direction that he had previously been heading. A few steps later, as we passed the ladder that headed up to Professor Trelawney's _'lair'_ (as Uncle George and, thus, Fred liked to call it), I grabbed hold of Dom as we passed her and pulled her along the corridor with me and Louis. She protested a little, having been busy flirting with some guys from Hufflepuff whilst simultaneously trying to steal homework from one of them, but followed nonetheless.

"What's going on?" She asked as soon as we turned a corner and the corridor was suddenly empty and much quieter. The girlish screams and sounds of older students shouting at the crowds to get out of the way seemed to be in the distance now.

I thrust Victoire's note into Dom's hand but started to talk before she and Louis had a chance to read all of it.

"Victoire…" I took a deep, rather overly dramatic, breath, "is pregnant."

"No way!" Dom exclaimed loudly, discarding the note completely by thrusting it towards Louis. He opted for opening and closing his mouth, and then he started to attempt the word '_What?_'

After a second of staring at me with "_Are you kidding me?_" expressions, Dom squealed excitedly and Louis gave up looking shocked and instead covered his ears when Dom screamed because she was standing so close to him. Ignoring him, she jumped up and down the way only a girl can.

"Oh my Merlin!" She grinned, tapping me on the arm in her enthusiasm. "I cannot believe this! This is amazing! Tory? Seriously, Tory's pregnant? Oh my, I'm going to be an Aunt!"

"I'm too young to have a niece or nephew!" Louis complained.

"Oh shut up and be happy for her!" Dom smiled, slapping Louis on the arm.

Louis pretended he was hurt for almost four seconds, before grinning stupidly. "I can't believe my sister is having a baby!"

"Don't say it like that!" Dom quickly complained, turning on her brother like the elder sibling she was. "People will think you're talking about me!"

I could tell that Louis was trying not to laugh, imagining how much mischief he could cause if he did spread that rumour, but I knew he wouldn't - Dom would _murder _him. Behind Dom, where I could not be seen, I burst into silent laughter, only to suddenly turn sober when Dom spun back round to face me.

"So what's going on then?" Dom asked. "Why did _you _tell us and not Tory?"

"She's coming to Hogwarts tonight at seven. We're meeting in the Gryffindor Common Room. She wants to talk to us, you know, for advice and stuff… about telling Teddy-"

"-Teddy doesn't _know_?" Louis seemed genuinely shocked.

"Tory hasn't actually told anybody but me-"

"And of course our mum knows-" Dom added.

"And Aunt Ginny and your mum, Rose," Louis supplied too.

"They know everything," I grinned. "So I'll see you guys later."

"Wait!" Dom stopped us both as we turned to head off in separate directions. "Does dad know?"

I hesitated.

"Oh no…" Even Louis looked afraid, and he was meant to be the tough, strong man.

"Teddy's going to be hexed to the moon and back before dad accepts his baby girl is knocked up," Dom agreed, and, even though her tone was serious, a small smile played at her lips.

_She was such a cruel relative sometimes…_

The first thing I did when I left Louis and Dom, strictly warning them both _not_ to tell a living (or dead) soul about Tory, was find Scorpius. Apparently he had been looking for me, but he was probably just looking for someone to annoy.

By the time I found him it was almost the end of lunch time. He was talking to a group of his Slytherin friends as they waited outside Potions. Turning the corner of the last corridor down into the dark dungeons, his back was to me but two of the other guys, identical twins Russell and Neil, saw me.

They were all busily laughing about something one of them had said about Professor Norton but the twin on the right, Russell, nudged Scorpius when he spotted me and I heard him say, "Hey, Malfoy, it's your Gryffindor girl."

Scorpius' smile was already plastered across his face when he turned around. By the time he'd looked I was standing right beside him.

"Hey," I smiled.

"Hey," Scorpius replied.

"Hey," his four friends chorused in unison.

Scorpius gave them a glare and turned his back to them so that we could have our own conversation.

"Where did you get to? You, like, abandoned me at lunch," He complained.

I laughed. "I did not abandon you. I had to talk to Dom and Louis about something…"

"About what?" He asked casually. I looked closer at him and realised that, even though he was smiling, he looked troubled.

I bit my lip. "I can't tell you."

"Oh right…" Normally he'd press and press and press until I gave in or told him to shove off, but this time he simply let it go.

My eyebrows furrowed. _He really_ was_ troubled. _"What's up?"

"Oh, nothing…" He smiled but his eyes didn't twinkle.

"Like I'm going to believe you, Scorpius," I stepped closer to him. Then I breathed compellingly into his ear, "You can tell me…"

"Don't try to charm it out of me, Rose Weasley," he grinned and for a moment he was actually smiling. Behind him his friends smirked.

"Don't make me, then…" I smiled, taking his hand.

"Okay," he started, anxious. "I just got a letter from my father and… and…"

"And?" I pressed.

"And he wants us to have dinner with him and my mother," he rushed through the words.

"Well… that doesn't seem so bad," I started.

"And with your parents too."

"W- I… what?" I dropped my bag. "_What_?"

"Shh…!" Scorpius looked around, checking nobody was staring at me like I was crazy. Some people were. "Calm down, okay. This is no big deal. Our parents are fine with us-"

"But our dads will _kill_ each other if they have to be at the same table for more than two minutes. If they have to be in the same _room _for more than two minutes."

"They'll… you know, just make careful comments whilst the mothers guide the conversation…" Scorpius hoped.

"One of them will start an argument, Scorpius."

"Okay, so we'll…" he looked stressed out by now, trying to convince me that all six of us would survive the meal in one piece. If I knew Scorpius, and I was pretty sure I did, he desperately wanted to do something to show his father that my family were fine with our relationship and he wanted them all to get on - I did too. "We'll make sure they don't talk very much."

After a moment or two I sighed, giving in, and smiled. "Or we'll just… I don't know, sneak out of the restaurant if things get too stressful."

He was so happy that he kissed me.

"Great, I'll write back to my dad first thing this evening."

"And I'll write to my parents too," I sighed as we followed our classmates into Potions.

* * *

><p>It was dead on seven o'clock that evening that Victoire wandered into the Gryffindor Common Room, attracting the stares of practically every male in the room, except her cousins.<p>

Everybody but me and Dom jumped up in surprise.

"Victoire!" Lily squealed, happy to see her eldest cousin.

"What are you doing here?"

"How did you get in?"

"I came to see how my lovely cousins were doing," She grinned at us all. If I hadn't known better I would have believed that she didn't have a care in the world. "And it's not hard to get past Hagrid, Fred."

We all laughed at that. Hagrid was Keeper of Keys and Grounds and Hogwarts, but I think he'd really lost them a long time ago - he was terrible at watching the doors. I think, from what I had overheard her telling Flitwick a long time ago, McGonagall had employed somebody else to check that nobody too suspicious or dangerous was entering the building, she had just continued to let Hagrid believe he was in charge.

"Teddy driving you crazy?" Roxanne sympathised.

"The boy doesn't leave me alone!" Tory joked. "He's like a child, I swear."

Dom and I exchanged quick glances at that comparison.

"Hey, er, Tory," I started slowly. "Can I have a word with you outside?"

"Sure," She smiled at me and I knew that she was grateful that I had asked, and therefore I would be the one under interrogation by our cousins when we returned, not her.

"I'll walk out with you," Dom stood up as we turned to go. "I've, er… left something in Charms anyway."

That was a terrible lie, but nobody dared confront Dom after the incident between her and James last year. To cut a long story short, James had ended up transfigured into a bee for four days and was almost squashed accidentally by his classmates numerous times. He would have been squashed purposefully by Dom if she hadn't inadvertently had her arms and legs transformed into jelly… except that had been by me. And yes, it _was_ an accident!

I had been aiming for Scorpius.

As soon as we stepped out of the warm Common Room and into the freezing cold corridor of Hogwarts, I whispered for Louis.

He materialised out of the shadows behind Dom and took the opportunity to scare the living daylights out of his sister by shouting suddenly in her ear and shaking her shoulders.

"Dementors! Dementors!" He shouted.

"Louis!" Dom fumed, ready to attack him, her hand inching towards her wand.

"Stop it," I sighed. "You're acting like children."

"_He's _acting like children," Dom glared at Louis.

"Grammatically, that makes _no _sense," Louis argued, leaning casually against the wall as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"_You_ make no sense," Dom spat back again.

"In the name of Harry Potter!" Tory stepped between her siblings. "Stop arguing!"

There was a second or two of silence until I commented. "You know, it _is_ weird when you use our uncle's name almost like a profanity…"

It was my turn to be glared at.

"Sorry," Louis muttered after a moment.

"Now will _one_ of you please tell me what to do?" She sighed, obviously stressed out.

"Well, seeing as you haven't told Teddy yet…" Dom started. "I think that's what you should do first."

"Easier said than done…" Tory responded quietly.

"Okay. Louis, as a boy, how do you think Tory should tell him?" I asked.

"Well, as it's Teddy we're talking about, I think you need to be really clear that you're pregnant," Louis even almost laughed. "The news will go straight over his head unless you actually spell it out for him."

"Yeah, make sure you definitely use the words _"I"_, _"am"_ and "_pregnant"_," Dom said.

"And even then he'll probably come up with a different meaning for it," Louis laughed.

"That's true," Dom agreed. "He's so slow… sometimes I think he's worse than Uncle Ron."

"Except he doesn't have my dad's temper," I added.

"Oh Merlin, why did I marry such a moron?" Tory complained, placing her head in her hands.

Placing both my hands upon her shoulders, I forced her to look up at me. "Listen, Victoire Gabrielle Lupin-"

She smiled at her name.

"-You are going to tell Teddy that he is having a child and you are going to do it tomorrow, okay?"

She nodded once. "But what if I-"

"You'll be fine, Tory," Louis interrupted her kindly. "He's not going to turn into a Werewolf."

"Then… then what?" She whispered. "Come on, Rose, you're the organised one. I've always been the mess that asks you for advice. Even when we were little. Remember when I was nine and it was your third birthday? I knocked the cake over and completely ruined two days of Nana Molly's hard work and I panicked and hid in the broom closet outside the house until you found me and helped clean it up before anybody noticed?"

"I remember," I smiled.

"You've always been the sensible one," Victoire added. "Why couldn't you be the pregnant one?"

It was rhetorical but it was still awkward when Scorpius turned the corner at that exact moment and stopped dead in his tracks.

Evidently he's brain had, at first, connected the words _'Rose' _and _'pregnant' _and caused a split second of panic because he looked completely shocked, turning to give me his perfected '_WTF_?' expression. I smiled sheepishly at him.

Slowly, Dom stepped forwards and pointed to me. "N - O - T pregnant…"

She addressed Scorpius slowly, as if he was a child. Louis followed her lead by turning to point at Victoire. "Pregnant," he said in the same slow tone.

I rolled my eyes. _Siblings._

"Come on, Louis," Dom grabbed him by the sleeve, conjuring up a random Charms text book as she went. "I think it's time we left Victoire to her problems. We're not much help anyway. Good luck, Tory!"

They disappeared behind the Fat Lady's portrait before the rest of us could speak. I turned to Scorpius, who was, thankfully, looking normal.

"You didn't really think I was pregnant for a second, did you?" I asked curiously.

"'Course not," he responded almost before I had finished my question.

"I'm not," I clarified.

"Yep," he agreed quickly. "'Cause to get… you'd have to… you know-"

"-I know."

"And we haven't… I mean, we… we aren't-"

"-I know."

"Yeah… we're just not…at that- er, you know…"

"-Should I leave?" Victoire suddenly interrupted awkwardly.

I took a deep, self-conscious breath.

_Focus on one thing at a time, Rose,_ I told myself. _First thing: Victoire. Second thing: Talking to Scorpius about our relationship and where we were with it._

I could see the second one being rather uncomfortable.

"Scorpius was just leaving," I replied, spinning him around and back down the corridor.

He looked confused. "What? No, I was coming to…"

"Bu bye, Scorpius," I continued, but my voice held a hint of mirth this time.

Then he laughed, all awkwardness gone. He spun around and kissed me. "I still need to talk to you."

"You know what," Victoire was looking happier now, almost as if she'd just had a premonition. "I should get going. Teddy will be wondering where I am… and I should probably tell him now, while I still have my strength."

"Now?" I almost shouted the word because I was so surprised. _What had changed her outlook so easily? I had suggested **tomorrow**.  
><em>

"Yeah, right now," she grinned.

"How did you change your mind so quickly?" I had to ask it.

"I just see how you two are together and I thought _'Well, Teddy and I are best friends', _like you are,_ 'and we're so close. Telling him should be the easiest thing in the world.'_ so I'm just going to do it… and get it other with… before I chicken out…" She finished her sentence slightly afraid that if she stayed much longer she actually would chicken out completely.

"Erm, Tory?" I called as she spun around and hurried away. When she paused and looked back I continued. "Don't let your dad within two metres of Teddy when you tell him."

She nodded, shooting me a look that said '_definitely!'_, then walked away, waving goodbye and calling her thanks to me.

I turned back to Scorpius.

"Well, that wasn't awkward at all," he said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

I rolled my eyes at him.

"What do you want, Scor?" I sighed.

"You're mean to me today," he complained.

"Sorry," I wrapped my arms around his shoulders. "I'm just worried about Tory, I suppose."

"And the dinner tomorrow night," Scorpius added.

"Yeah, the dinner tom- Hold on," I stepped back once so that I could look at him properly. "_Tomorrow night?_"

He winced. "Sorry! It's the only night my parents can do within the next two weeks and your mum wants to do it before our exams start."

"That does sound like my mum," I agreed.

"She said for me to tell you to wear '_that green dress with the lace'_ that she bought you… if that means anything to you…"

I groaned. "I threw that out!"

"Uh oh… Do you think she'll notice?" Scorpius asked, knowing what my mother was like when she was annoyed, as she would be when she found out that I had discarded her present.

"Well she's not colour blind, so I'm thinking yeah," I snapped.

"Alright," Scorpius held his hands up in a surrender. "_I _haven't done anything wrong!"

"Sorry! Sorry," I wiped my hand across my forehead.

Scorpius' whole body posture softened and he pulled me into his arms. "You say '_sorry_' a lot more nowadays…"

"Hmm… I guess I just realised that it was easier…" I mumbled into his neck. "And I am sorry about snapping at you."

"That's okay," his grip round me tightened.

"Hold on," I asked curiously, "Did you talk to my mum then?"

"Yeah, I used the telephone," he responded as if it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"How did you get it to work at Hogwarts?" I asked, impressed.

"I got help from McGonagall," He smirked. "I told her it was an important call… and it sort of is," he quickly defended himself. "I mean, the dinner's tomorrow so I needed to get hold of your parents as soon as possible. I couldn't wait for your owl to get there - It would be too late. You live so far away."

"Hey, don't blame my hometown," I chuckled, then I sighed tiredly. "Everything's so exhausting, Scor… I don't know how I'm going to make it through NEWTs let alone this dinner with our stupid dads trying to assert dominance over each other."

"You're just tired," He sympathised kindly, rubbing his hand up and down my back. "Everybody's relying on you at the moment: Victoire is for help; I am for tomorrow night to run smooth; Your mother is for you to do well in your NEWTs; and your cousins are for help revising. Just take a deep breath a relax for a minute, Rose."

"I really should get back to the common room," I pointed out. "It's already past curfew."

"You're Head Girl," He laughed. "You can break curfew a little bit. Stay with me for ten minutes."

"Scor, I-"

"Okay, give me five?" He grinned cheekily at me and I surrendered, rising up on my tiptoes to kiss him.

* * *

><p>The next evening at six o'clock Scorpius knocked on the door to my dormitory. Alice opened it whilst I was finishing putting my hair up into a bun and I heard her exclamations from the bathroom even with Dom swearing at the top of her lungs because she had stepped on a plug.<p>

"Oooh, Mr Malfoy! Don't you look nice," I walked barefoot to the door to see Alice grinning like a little girl who'd just been given some candy.

I shot her a '_You've got a boyfriend so stop gawping at mine' _look, which she promptly replied to by smirking at me and then walking away to shut Dom up.

I turned to see Scorpius leaning casually against the doorframe and giving me his most charming smile. He was wearing a standard suit, apparently trying to make an impression on not only my parents, but his own. I noticed even his hair was less messy.

"You're early," I smiled.

"I know," He replied, and I could tell his pointed look in my direction was hinting at how I wasn't dressed yet. I had done my make-up and my hair, but I hadn't put on my dress yet. Why? Because I didn't _have_ my dress. I knew my mother would kill me when she found out I hadn't liked the dress she'd bought me and, instead of letting her know, had simply thrown it out. To tell you the truth I was still kind of waiting for a miracle. Procrastinating a little… Perhaps another green dress would materialise in front of me and my mother wouldn't look too closely at the shape and I'd be saved… no?

Well, actually, yes.

Because Scorpius pushed a parcel into my hands and told me, "I figured we shouldn't push our parents tonight, so I did what I could to help."

I pulled my eyebrows together, confused, and then couldn't resist ripping the top off the box, revealing another dress in, what I hoped was, a similar shade of green, because I couldn't remember the exact shade it had been before.

I had to squeal loudly, and then embrace my boyfriend excitedly.

"You literally just saved my life!"

"I wouldn't thank me until you get away with it… you never know, you're mother might notice," he warned me, but I could see his lips playing at a smile.

I held the dress up and spun sideways to look in the long mirror that had been magically stuck onto the back of Polly's wardrobe.

"I have a feeling it'll pass for the same dress," I told him happily.

It was simple, with a sweetheart neckline, and flowed down to the floor. Made from silk, black lace lined the bottom of the dress.

"So you better get ready, yeah?" Scorpius brought me back to the present.

"Oh, Merlin! Good idea."

Less than ten minutes later I had bid the other girls goodbye and apparated to a street in London with Scorpius.

The restaurant was the only building down the busy road that had the impression of being upper-class, but the other shops were still abuzz with shoppers and tourists. Even though we were both dressed smartly, in a suit and evening dress, and had emerged from an alleyway, nobody had enough time to even give us a second glance, nor did we have enough time to stop and glance at anybody else - we were late.

Which meant our parents were probably already sitting together.

As we entered the busy restaurant Scorpius and I shared a look. _Let's hope our parents hadn't started an argument yet._

Scorpius took my hand as we approached the table where they were sitting, one beside the window.

"Sorry we're late," I told them all as my mother stood up to embrace me.

"Oh, don't worry," Astoria smiled as she gave Scorpius a kiss on the cheek and his father shook his hand. "Your mother and I were having a lovely time catching up."

I looked at Scorpius over my fathers shoulder as we hugged, and we both smirked. _Catching up? More like trying to stop the conversation from going dead._

"That dress looks lovely on you, Rose," my mother told me as I took a seat next to her and Scorpius sat on my other side beside his father.

"Thanks," I grinned, then met Scorpius' eyes as my mother turned to look at the menu. We both tried our hardest not to laugh.

"Something funny, Scorpius?" Draco asked.

"Nope, nothing," Scorpius was quick to answer.

To stop from laughing I glanced down at the menu too. There was a few minutes of polite conversation about the food at the restaurant and who was having what to eat before we ordered, then awkwardness crept up.

None of us really knew what to say.

Surprisingly, it was my father who spoke first. "So… how's school going, Scorpius?"

"Good… good," Scorpius replied, obviously surprised too - Ron Weasley was not one for starting conversations.

Again, the conversation went dead.

"How about you, Rose?" Astoria tried.

"About the same," I smiled. "I mean, NEWTs are a hassle and there's all the stress of finding a career once we leave Hogwarts, which is actually not too long now, but there's so much to choose from. Quite a lot of people have already decided what they want to do-"

I was aware I was rambling, yes.

"-but I'm not really that decisive. Do I go into medicine? Or office work? Or both, because there are a few jobs with Gringotts which offer the chance to-"

"Rose," Scorpius interrupted suddenly. Both my parents and his were politely ignoring my rambling, but he knew when it was time to shut me up.

"Yes?" I asked quickly, grabbing at the chance to shut up.

"Can I have a moment?" He raised his menu so that it covered us from view of our parents and whispered, "Relax, my parents aren't going to eat you alive, and I'm pretty sure yours aren't either."

"I am relaxed," I argued in a whisper. He raised his eyebrows at me. "Okay, sorry… I'll… try."

"Good girl," He deliberately patronised me, chuckling as he lowered the menu.

Turning back to our parents we were spared the curious looks by the waiter who came and took our orders.

"Not everybody knows what career they want to go into, Rosie," my mother consoled me.

"I keep telling her to stop worrying about it," Scorpius agreed. He seemed so at ease now. "Who wouldn't hire her based on her OWLs alone?"

Our mothers and him laughed, our fathers' lips twitched but they were both too tense to relax completely. They were both probably thinking the same thing - what would their fathers think if they knew who they were having dinner with?

"That's easy for you to say," I grumbled. "You already know what you want to do."

"You do?" Draco asked suddenly. "What did you decide on?"

"Curse breaker," Scorpius and I spoke at the same time. "Jinx!"

There was a short second of silence, and then we both laughed and agreed to call it even.

For once all four of the others had the same expression on their faces - amused surprise. The waiter came back with our drinks.

"You know," my mother spoke slowly after a few moments of sipping her drink. "I'm surprised you two disliked each other so much before. You seem to get on so well nowadays."

Scorpius and I exchanged a look which would have been the equivalent to shrugging our shoulders.

"I suppose… erm, I don't know," Scorpius stirred his drink with his straw awkwardly.

I sipped my own until I remembered an anecdote from a few years ago and started to laugh, coughing up coke.

"What?" my father asked as the others gave me '_what?'_ looks.

"I just remembered something…" I chuckled, then directed my words at Scorpius. "Do you remember Halloween two years ago?"

He looked confused for a second, then a grin spread across his face. He buried his head in his hands, laughing. "I'm _so_ sorry for that!"

I grinned and, for a second, it was okay for the memory to be only ours. Then I turned to our parents. "That's how Hagrid lost his taste for rock cakes…"

"And, may I just say," Scorpius interrupted, "that is was _completely _Rose's fault."

"Was not!" I slapped him playfully on the shoulder. "_You_ were the one who replaced them for the whole feast!"

"And _you _were the one who charmed them to sing and dance the Hogwarts theme song!"

"I've still got a chipped tooth from biting into that first rock cake," I told him.

"You do?"

I nodded and opened my mouth slightly so that he could see the tooth. It was only chipped a little and, luckily, just covered by my lip. Scorpius placed his hand either side of my face and moved my face into the light.

"So it is!" He laughed. "Hey, maybe you should be a dentist."

I slapped him again. "I don't think so."

"What's wrong with dentists?" My mother interrupted us.

We turned to look at her. "Erm, no offence to Granddad Granger or anything, mum, but dentistry… isn't really my thing. I kind of find it boring."

My father high-fived me, grinning. "That's my girl!"

The smile slid off his face when he saw my mother's expression.

"I'll have you know, Ronald, that dentistry is a well respected muggle profession and, had you read that book on muggles that I bought you for your birthday ten years ago, you would feel some respect for it too."

"Sorry, 'Mione," he apologised, to the amusement of Scorpius' parents. "I promise to read it as soon as we get home."

"You will do no such thing," my mother smiled. "I threw it out ages ago. It was the worst book I had ever read."

We all laughed, even Draco a little - he knew enough of my mother's love for books to understand the joke.

"Is it just me," Astoria suddenly observed, "or did you two _always _try to hex each other to oblivion?"

"Not _always_…" I began.

"And only 'to oblivion' on special holidays, like Halloween-" Scorpius added.

"-Or Easter-"

"-Or Christmas…"

"And then last year on your birthday," I laughed.

"Hey, I swear you almost killed me that time!" Scorpius complained.

"Oh, come on!" I smiled at him sweetly. "I would have stopped the cupboard if you hadn't moved."

"Rose…" He spoke my name slowly to get my full attention. "It was inches above my head."

"And I was ready to stop it," I smiled again.

My parents looked exactly like how I'd imagined they would have looked when they discovered that Santa didn't exist. Scorpius' father looked pleased that I had some audacity and his mother simply gave me a '_I'm sure he deserved it' _look_._

"Lucky Al could move fast," Scorpius sulked.

"That's not fair! What about Christmas four years ago? You almost got Peeves to pour that Forgetfulness Potion all over me!"

"I wanted to beat you in DADA for once!" Scorpius smiled.

"It was enough to make me forget my name," I argued, half-forgetting we had an audience to our banter.

"Well, I didn't know that… I was a third year!"

"You should have paid attention in Potions," I pointed out.

"Want to call it even?" He grinned after a minute.

"Sure," I agreed happily and we shook hands on our deal.

The waiter came back again, with our meals this time. We ate mostly in silence, on the guys and my part too hungry to talk, on my mother and Astoria's too unwilling to interrupt us.

"I'm surprised you both made it to seventh year, what with all these attempts to paralyse the other one," Astoria finally began the conversation again.

"I got bored of it this year," Scorpius muttered.

"Me too," I smiled up at him, taking his hand in mine under the table.

All in all, the evening was quite a success. When Scorpius and I went up to order dessert and our mothers left to find the toilet we came back to see Draco and my father in polite conversation, albeit a bit uncomfortably.

We returned back to Hogwarts that evening rather pleased. Scorpius dropped me off outside the Fat Lady, who kept complaining that although she was a portrait she still counted as "public" and that our goodnight kiss was inappropriate.

I entered my dormitory to Lily, and only Lily. She was sitting on my bed, playing with her hair. The other girls were squealing about something in the bathroom, but the door was shut.

Lily wanted to talk to me.

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><p><strong>Hey, I hope you liked it. Thank you for reading! 23 Chapters is crazy, and all down to you wonderful people who read it! :D I'd love a review?<strong>


	24. Limbo

**Thank alex4879 for being my calendar! Siriusly, thank you for reminding me _again_. And thank you all for being so supportive of this story!**

**Enjoy. :D**

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><p>"What's up, Lily?" I tried to tone down the smile on my face. Tonight's dinner had gone unexpectedly well and, even though I was worried about Lily's anxious expression, nothing yet had given me reason to be alarmed.<p>

She shuffled over towards me, then changed her mind and went to stand by the window, opening the curtains so that she looked out over the grounds of Hogwarts. From our room we had a spectacular view of the Lake and, just in the distance, could make out the beginnings of the Forbidden Forest. The moonlight shimmered across the lake.

I made to stand next to her, but Lily's voice stopped me in my tracks. "No, please… just, stand over there."

I froze, then took two steps backwards, firmly planting my feet beside my bedpost.

"Lily…" I spoke into the silence. "You're starting to scare me."

"I…"

"What is it?" I so badly wanted to go and give her a hug, but I stayed where I was until Lily didn't mind me moving.

"I think Sam is cheating on me…"

I froze - that was not what I was expecting.

"Oh, Lily…" I didn't know quite what to say, so I _did_ go and give her a hug this time.

She wrapped her arms around me tightly. In my heels she was considerably shorter than me which made her seem young and vulnerable. I decided right then and there that if Sam was cheating on Lily, I was going to make him regret it.

I heard her sniff, trying not to cry.

"Come here," I said gently, guiding her over to sit on my bed as I produced a bar of chocolate and handed it to her.

I slipped my heels off and climbed onto the bed opposite her, pulling closed the curtains of the four poster.

As she snapped some chocolate off the bar, I spoke carefully, "Lily, you said you _think_ he's cheating on you… are you sure?"

She stared at me, silently daring me whether I had just asked that question. It probably would have been a glare, had she been feeling up to it. "If Scorpius was cheating on you, would you know?"

As much as I didn't want to ever think about that, she had a point. I would know immediately. Or, at least I _thought _I would. I _hoped_ I would.

Interpreting my silence correctly, she continued, staring down at the chocolate in her hand intently, "He's been avoiding me. Playing more Quidditch. Telling me he has homework when he hasn't. And the other night I found him lurking in a third floor corridor."

From the bathroom I heard Polly squeal excitedly. I ignored it.

"Have you asked him? Outright, I mean…"

"Of course not!" Lily looked horrified at the very idea.

"Lily, you can't accuse him of something like this and not be sure. I've known Sam for a long time and he's always been a good guy. I'm not saying you're wrong," I hurriedly continued as she appeared to grow irritated with me, "but I just don't want this to have all been a misunderstanding."

Lily threw the rest of the chocolate onto the middle of my bed. "Why can't you just be sympathetic for once, Rose, instead of evaluating everything rationally? You don't have to be liked by everyone. Just choose a side and stick to it."

"Lily, I'm not-"

"I don't even know why I came to you," She stood up abruptly. "Sorry for the _inconvenience_ I've caused."

I tried to follow her out of the room, apologising for Merlin knows what I'd done wrong, but she silenced me by slamming the door in my face.

I stood shocked, staring at the wood, for a few seconds, until the others came out of the bathroom.

"Is everything okay, Rose?" Niomi asked kindly. "What's up with Lily?"

"I don't know," I answered truthfully.

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><p>Between worrying about NEWTS, finding a job, my parents and Scorpius' not really getting along, Lily <em>and <em>Tory, I had too much to worry about to really be able to find time to sort any of it out.

The next morning it was like a switch had been turned - it was only a few weeks before NEWTs began and everyone tended to begin panicking roughly around the same time.

The library was, annoyingly, crammed full with people, so much so that, even with them all whispering, it was too loud for me to concentrate. When I went back to the Common Room, however, Lily was there with Al. The two of them were playing chess, until she spotted me and abruptly left the room.

Sighing wearily, I sat by the fire opposite Al.

"What was that all about?" He asked, eyebrows creasing, still half-way between moving his rook.

I made a face in response, but didn't comment. Al, blissfully, took the hint to change subject, and did so.

"Just been to the library? Are there any books you _haven't _checked out yet?"

I almost smiled at that, "I don't know, I'll have to check next time I'm there."

He grinned as he tidied away his chess board and asked, "So what'd you get this time?"

I showed him the book cover, "It's for Scorpius. Just some help on applying to be a Curse Breaker intern. It's a pretty competitive field so I figured any help was useful."

"Especially for Scorpius," Al agreed. "He'd never get anything done on his own."

I grinned, suddenly producing a rather large stack of paper from my bag. "Which is why I got this too."

"And that is…" Al questioned wearily.

"Application forms," I told him as if it was obvious. "To the five best Curse Breaker programmes in the world. I also got some from a few average ones, but I don't think he'll need to apply to those with his OWLs."

"Yeah, sometimes I think he's cleverer than you," Al joked, earning himself a playful slap on the arm.

I glared at Al. "He's not _that_ clever," I joked.

"Don't you have anything better to do with your time? Like revise for your own NEWTs?"

"I'm always revising for my NEWTs," I told him. "So I had some spare time to look this up for him. What about you? Shouldn't you be revising?"

Al grimaced like he was in pain. "I really don't want to…"

"Come on," I said determinedly, pulling him up with me as I stood.

"Where are we going?" He complained.

"_You _are going to revise. _I_ am going to make sure you don't read magazines and think about Quidditch."

He groaned.

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><p>A few days later, at breakfast, I finally got a letter from Tory.<p>

It was quite early in the morning - breakfast had only started ten minutes ago - and I was sitting with Angie, Fred and Roxanne. They were all trying to revise things they hadn't even bothered to learn earlier in the year and I was correcting them as they read out their shreds of notes.

I was in a debate with Roxanne as to _why_ magic could not make food, when Victoire's owl slammed into my plate full of toast and almost knocked over my pumpkin juice, had Fred not caught it in time. Roxanne caught the plate before it could smash onto the floor and I caught the bird before it could injure anybody. Angie managed to spring away from the table, lest she was injured by Tory's crazy owl, even though she was the furthest away from the incident. _Thoughtful._

I sent the owl off as soon as I could - honestly, he was worse than Errol had been - then turned to the letter.

_Rosie,_

_I told him. He didn't faint or scream or explode like I thought he would._

_He did go blue though._

_Then orange._

_But he's alright now. Mostly he was happy. Thank Merlin! I'm scared, but I've got you all. And I have Teddy to mess up this whole parenting thing with. Dom will kill me, but you'll be Godmother, right? It would mean everything to me if you will. Dom and Louis are already aunt and uncle so they can't complain too much._

_Teddy's gone to tell Uncle Harry and visit his parents' graves but he should be back soon so I only have time to write a short note._

_We told my dad this morning - he went crazy. I mean, he loves Teddy, sure, but he didn't really appreciate him knocking up his first child, you know?_

_Anyway, I figured you'd want to know what was happening. I'll write when I know more._

_Thanks again, Rosie._

_Love, Tory._

"Seriously, if Tory doesn't get a new owl soon I'm going to refuse to let her send me any letters," Roxanne said. "That bird's a menace to everybody."

"It's half blind, Roxie," Fred rolled his eyes at his sister. "At least it went in the right direction. What more do you want?"

Instead of becoming involved in another of their frequent sibling arguments, she went back to her revision and eating her toast.

"Teddy being a nuisance again?" Angie offered an explanation for the letter, nodding towards it as she did so.

"Erm, actually…" I handed her the letter.

"She's pregnant?" She exclaimed after a second of skim reading the note. The people behind us on the Ravenclaw table turned to glare at us for a moment, then decided our conversation wasn't that interesting to them and went back to their breakfast. Roxanne and Fred stopped what they were doing and stared at Angie as if she was crazy.

"She's _what?_"

"Pregnant," Fred repeated slowly. "You know, having a baby…"

"Yes, I know what it means, _Freddie,_ thank you very much," Roxanne snapped.

"Just trying to help," he muttered sarcastically under his breath.

"That's great news!" Angie grinned at me as Al, Lucy and Louis joined us.

"What is?"

The news was repeated a few times as everybody arrived in drabs. It got a little tiring repeating it after a while so I just ate my breakfast quietly and let the excited Angie and Roxanne convey the message to my cousins, and Scorpius, when he joined us.

"Do you think she'll name him after me if I bribed her?" Al asked from across the table.

"Depends what you've got on her…" Fred laughed.

"Don't be stupid, Fred, like Tory is going to name her child _Albus_," Lily shook her head in disbelief. "No offence, Al, but the name's terrible."

"Alright, Severus then," Al defended.

"Erm, no, not that either."

"Why is it that we all have horrible names again?" Dom joked.

"Hey, say what you want, I like my name," Al argued.

"Me too," Scorpius agreed.

"You're both weird," I teased. They chuckled as they got up to head to class.

Scorpius and I made our way to Care of Magical Creatures by Hagrid's Hut. Our end of year project was to make sure our Blast-Ended Skrewts stayed alive. Needless to say, once we'd recaptured them under a cardboard box and placed them back inside their enclosure, we only had to sit around until break time.

We made ourselves comfortable on the floor and I took out the application forms I'd printed off for him.

"I found these when I was in the library. I thought they might come in useful," I started. "NEWTs start next week and after that it's going to be hard to get a job with everyone applying at the same time, so I figured it might help to get ahead…" He was looking at me, amused, with his eyebrows raised. "You think I'm crazy, don't you?"

He laughed. He was in a good mood today.

"No, I don't. I think I'm incredibly lucky to have someone as great as you."

I could feel my face going red as he stared at me, unabashed, with a smile on his face.

After a few moments I had to mutter, "What?…" at the way he was still staring at me. I felt a little self-conscious.

"Nothing," he grinned, taking the paper as I handed them to him. "Want to help me fill them out?"

I laughed. "Sure."

He went through the application forms as I sat beside him, leaning on the tree for support and looking over at our creature enclosure every now and then to make sure they hadn't escaped. Sometimes he read out a question like "What do you think is the most important quality a person can have?" and I would answer helpfully with "sarcasm" or "disobedience" just for the fun of it.

By the time he'd reached the last application and was on "Would you be willing to work abroad for up to a year in order to complete your training?", the bell for the end of lessons went.

He stuffed the paper into his bag, earning a reprimand from me, and we headed back up to the castle for lunch. When we arrived, the Great Hall was pupil deficient, unusually so.

"Why is it that we never sit over on the Slytherin table?" Scorpius asked as he sat next to me at the Gryffindor table.

I rolled my eyes at him and didn't answer. "Where is everyone?"

"Maybe they're all under invisibility cloaks?" Alice offered as she sat opposite me.

"Or maybe they're all getting in last minute revision before the exams start," Scorpius said. "I heard Divination exams begin tomorrow."

"Wow, are they really that close?" Alice seemed surprised. "I thought they weren't for another few weeks."

"Alice, you're first exam is charms next Tuesday…"

"Uh oh… Really?" I nodded. She paused, then sprang up, grabbing a sandwich as she went, and hurried out of the hall.

Scorpius shook his head, laughing. "How she missed your constant nagging about exams, I will never know."

"Nagging?" I creased my eyebrows. "I do not 'nag'."

He smirked, then said sarcastically. "Of course not…"

I glared for a minute.

I had to yield - it was true. "It is for your own good!"

"I know," he agreed as he poured some pumpkin juice into his cup. "And deep, deep, deep, _deep_ down, Al knows it too."

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><p>"Why are we looking for the History of Magic section?" Al asked for the sixth time since we'd entered the library. I stopped scanning the shelves long enough to turn and glare at him. "Considering the exam was <em>yesterday<em>…"

"I'm _returning_ books, Al."

"You can take books out of the library?" He was genuinely surprised.

I laughed. "How are we related, again?"

Evidently he simply thought I stole them or something.

I moved on to the next shelf, placing one book away in it's rightful place as I went.

"Cousins," He answered literally. I rolled my eyes at him, but my lips twitched.

"That was rhetorical."

"I know."

"Oh, I'm surprised you know what rhetorical means."

"I do know _some_ things, little Rosie," he teased me, ruffling my hair as I turned towards the next shelf of books. "Bat-Bogey Hexes and secret passages to Hogsmeade do account for something, you know. You should be proud of my cleverness."

"Considering you _knew_ what a rhetorical question was yet still answered it, I would say you were the opposite of clever, Albus."

I placed the last book back on the shelves. "There, all finished."

"Can we go practice for Charms now?" He begged. Ever since I'd offered (read: forced) him to study a couple of days ago, he'd been begging me to help him in every subject. I didn't mind: teaching him helped me learn too. "I'm going to fail without your help."

"Al," I stopped him as we passed a few tables. "You know it all, you do. Just stop panicking, you'll be fine."

"But you'll still help me practice, right? The exam's tomorrow."

"Of course I will." We started to walk towards the door until I spotted Sam in the far corner, his head bent over some books. "I'll catch you up - I'll only be a second."

Al hurried off, fretting over his exams.

I made my way over to Sam, unsure of what I was going to say.

But I had to say _something_.

He looked up once I stopped in front of him, my shadow blocking the light from the nearby candle. He smiled.

"Hey, Rose. How are you?"

I sat down. "I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait until after I've done this? I'm sorry, but Professor Brown wanted it in two weeks ago and I'm still-"

"Are you cheating on Lily?"

"-trying to- I, what?"

"Are you?" I didn't break our gaze. I'd asked it, I wasn't going to take it back now.

He looked shocked that I'd asked.

He sighed wearily and placed his quill down on the table.

"I suppose I can't hide the truth forever…"

I didn't breathe for a moment.

I _so _wanted him to contradict it, to act exasperated and, maybe even laugh at the ridiculousness of the question. Then I could go back to Lily with good 'guess-what-you're-boyfriend-isn't-cheating-on-you' news as a friendship gift.

But he just looked down at the table.

"Sam?" I prompted after he didn't continue. "Are you?"

"I'm…" He fidgeted. "I- no, I'm not."

"Look at me and say it," I pushed. It might have seemed rude, after all, it wasn't really my place to spy on their relationship, but Lily was my best friend, and I just felt like I had a right to ask. Considering I knew them both, they were both a part of my life, I just wanted to fix it.

"I…"

I interrupted his excuses. "I can't believe you'd do that to Lily! I told her you were a good guy, Sam, I insisted it. And she was right not to believe me."

"No, Rose, I'm not…" He interjected weakly, glancing quickly to meet my eyes and then back to the table again, almost ashamedly.

"Save it, Sam," I snapped harsher than intended. I picked up my bag to leave, I didn't want to be near somebody who could betray my trust like that, but he grabbed my hand, stopping me from getting up from the table.

"Wait!" He glanced nervously around us at the other tables where students had begun to cotton on to our conversation, ready for any gossip they could find. He seemed to be deliberating and for one moment I thought something else was going on.

He took his hand off mine and gathered his books into a sloppy pile, evidently forgetting about his important essay.

"Where are we going?" I asked, confused, as he led me hurriedly out of the library, glancing over his shoulder every few steps as if he was afraid of being followed.

Or overheard.

He pulled me down a few corridors, a flight of stairs and into the third floor girls bathroom.

Whatever it was that was wrong, I'd gathered he didn't want anybody to know, so I stopped him from coming to a halt and instead _I _dragged him into an empty classroom a few doors down from the bathroom. He looked at me questioningly. "Myrtle is the biggest gossip in the school."

For one moment I thought about not moving him, letting him tell me whatever this big news was that was obviously causing Lily to doubt herself and her relationship, letting Myrtle hear and tell everyone. But then I thought better of it. He didn't deserve that - nobody did. If he _wasn't_ cheating on her I'd have divulged his big secret and if he _was_ cheating on her… well, I could think of better ways of payback.

"What's going on, Sam?" I turned to look at him and my words, instead of the intended determination, sounded worried. I _was _worried. He looked pale and tired under the cold light of the bathroom. His face looked drawn and, now I looked, he was much skinnier than the last time I'd seen him at Quidditch practice. I stepped forward and placed a hand gently, reassuringly, on his arm.

"I… I'm ill, Rose."

I didn't know what to say.

Do I ask _how _ill? Was that insensitive? Was it insensitive to not say anything? Was I supposed to respond at all? Offer help? What type of help?

Luckily, Sam had obviously come to terms with his illness, so he continued. "I haven't told Lily. I… At first I didn't think it was serious, but my parents forced me to go to the doctors, muggle doctors, over Christmas. They were worried…"

He placed his bag on the teacher's desk. I couldn't move, hadn't moved, since he'd said it. Without looking at me he continued.

"I… I haven't got cancer or… or anything. I've got diabetes."

"Oh, Sam…" I went to stand beside him now, placing my bag on the desk with his and pulled him to sit on the floor with me.

"It's not… It could be worse, much worse. I feel like if I make a big deal over it… I feel like it's not fair on those people with cancer or kidney disease or…"

"Sam," I took his hand in mine and rested my head on his shoulder. "It _is _serious, but you can live with diabetes. Don't let you talk yourself into feeling… feeling _guilty _for worrying over having diabetes. Of course it's serious."

He was quiet for a while. "It's manageable. I… don't want people to worry about me."

I gave a small laugh, then said affectionately. "You are the most selfless person I know. I used to think that was nothing but a positive quality, but you have to think about yourself sometimes, Sam. We're all here for you, even Lily. It'll be a big change - not being able to eat what you want, monitoring blood levels… but we're all here for you."

I heard him swallow. "Thank you, Rose… for being…"

"No problem," I smiled, even though he couldn't see it.

"Do you think I should tell Lily?" He asked into the silence. "Today, I mean…"

"Yeah," I responded quietly, sincerely. "I do."

"But… she's got exams still and I don't want to worry her. I don't think it would be fair if she was too busy-"

I sat up properly to look him in the eyes. "You should tell Lily. And then you should get some rest, Sam."

"But I have a-"

"Look, Professor Brown wants a list of magical potions involving Ox tongue and Gillyweed, right? I can do that."

"Oh, no, I-"

I pulled him to his feet. "No arguing, _Sammy_. I said I'd help and I am. Don't get me wrong though, I 'm not doing your homework forever," I teased. "Only until you get things sorted."

"Honestly, Rose, it's fine. I can finish-"

"Let me do this, Sam," I pleaded. "I expected the worst of you so easily. And I want to help. You're a good guy and a great friend."

He hesitated, then handed me his half-completed list. "Doesn't this count as cheating?" He asked, unsure.

"It's not marked homework."

"But I thought you condemned cheating on all accounts?"

"Well, in this case, I'll make an exception."

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><p><strong>Thank you for reading. :D<strong>

**I did a little chapter rearranging so the last bit of this chapter acutally originally ended on a cliffhanger (let's just say, it stopped somewhere near the beginning of the Rose/Sam conversation). Anyways, I liked ending it here better, so I hope you liked it too. I'm not _too_ keen on this chapter, but I rather like the next two. Two more chapters left! Please review?**


	25. Future Plans

**Okay, so the end of this chapter (no, don't peek!) was totally not where I was going to go with it, but it happened. Anyways, I hope you like it, please don't kill me for the ending. It totally wasn't planned - it's just what came.**

**Also, I absolutely love you all for still reading! You're truly wonderful. Especially if you reviewed! You're, like, doubly wonderful! Ad especially especially if you're catching up now!  
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**Any questions (because I know I can be a little ditzy sometimes)/suggestions for things you'd like to see in the epilogue/theories are very much welcomed/appreciated.**

**I hope you enjoy this.  
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**Disclaimer (haven't written one of these bad boys for a while): I solemnly swear that I don't own Harry Potter. Mischief Managed.**

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><p>"Is it a crime if I kidnapped you?" I heard someone whisper into my hair as their arms came around me and they breathed deeply into the back of my neck.<p>

"It wouldn't be kidnapping if I agreed," I laughed, turning in Scorpius' arms.

"What would it be then?" He smirked, placing his hands between my shoulder blades, keeping me in his embrace.

"Eloping?" I supplied.

Interestingly, his eyes twinkled.

I slapped him on the arm playfully and then ducked out of his arms altogether.

"Hey!" He protested teasingly. "I only just caught you."

"You've got to try harder than that," I teased back, but I stepped back into his embrace anyway.

"Where have you been all day? I haven't seen you."

"I was… helping Sam out."

"Sam?" He seemed surprised for a moment.

"He…" I squirmed under his gaze. "I promised not to tell."

Scorpius' eyebrows shot up, curious. I knew he'd press me now, but I had promised Sam and a promise was a promise.

"Interesting…" He drawled deliberately evaluating the situation out loud as we began continuing our walk down the corridor towards the Gryffindor Common Room. He slung his arm over my shoulder as we dawdled along. "Is it… something to do with Lily?"

I laughed. "We are not playing Twenty Questions, Scorpius! I told him I'd keep it a secret until he told everyone, and that's what I'm going to do."

"Spoil sport," He poked me in the ribs.

"Where have _you_ been?" I asked, feigning suspicion.

"Me?" He glanced down at me with a cheeky grin on his face which I knew meant he wasn't going to supply a serious answer. "I've been finalising my plans on how to take over the world with the giant Squid."

I giggled. "Have you now?"

"Well, that's top secret information. Nobody's allowed to know…." He continued as we entered the Gryffindor Common Room. "See how I did that? I told you a secret - now it's your go."

I slapped him on the arm again. "Leave it, Scorpius Malfoy. I'm not telling you."

"Not telling him what?" Al asked as we sat together on the sofa next to him. He placed his copy of the _Daily Prophet_ down on the table and turned to us as Dominique, Lily, Alice and Fred all looked up from the floor towards our conversation. Even Lily seemed to have forgiven me a little, because she didn't storm off.

"Her deep dark secret," Scorpius teased again, making the situation worse. Having Scorpius determined to find out was bad enough, add in my crazy relatives and it was a nightmare.

"I thought _you_ were her deep dark secret?" Alice asked seriously.

"I was," He looked proud of himself, smirking at me. "But that's old news now."

"So what's the secret?" Dom evidently couldn't stop herself from asking.

"It's a _secret_," I exclaimed, exasperated. "There's a hint in the name. I can't tell you."

"Is it something to do with the library?" Fred asked.

"No!" I laughed. "What is it with you all and Twenty Questions?"

They all glared at me for a moment in that sibling way which was their attempt to make me tell them. Then they gave up and Al proposed a game of Wizard's Chess with Fred.

"You know what I just noticed?" Scorpius suddenly brought me out of my reverie of looking into the fire by his surprised tone as Albus moved to sit on the floor.

"What?" I asked, curious.

"I haven't kissed you today."

I couldn't help but grin as he bent down to kiss me.

"It would be great if you could, oh, I don't know… get a room?" Dom glared, half serious.

"Don't encourage them," Hugo warned Dom, glaring at Scorpius, as he came and sat between Fred and Dom on the floor. His completely serious tone and the way he didn't even look up from his book made everyone laugh.

"Seriously though," Dom sighed. "Your happiness is quite depressing to those of us who only have exams in our lives right now."

I grinned, "I apologise."

Scorpius' head twitched like he was observing me. I started to feel a little self conscious when he didn't stop, even though both Hugo and Dom had turned back to the ongoing Chess game where Al was thrashing Fred.

"What?…" I asked, blushing.

"You stopped saying that," he commented.

"Yeah," I agreed. "I guess I… picked it up from you."

He continued staring at me still.

I tucked a piece of my hair behind my ear and then turned my body to face him. "Seriously, what?"

"You're beautiful."

Dom made a noise as if she was gagging.

I stared back at Scorpius. "Something's going on…"

"What?" He smiled. Usually it would fool me, but I was looking for signs of a cover-up this time, so I saw it. His eyebrows creased ever so slightly and the very corners of his lips tightened slightly. "Everything's fine."

"No… what's wrong? Tell me…"

He glanced towards the others who were all sitting a metre or so in front of us on the floor, crowded round the Chess board and egging Al's knight as it beat up Fred's remaining pawn.

He looked back at me. "I got accepted to an apprenticeship."

"You did?" The excitement was instantaneous. I hopped up so that my weight was on my knees. "That's brilliant! Which one?"

"The Aesalon Foundation."

"Scor - they're one of the top schools for Curse Breaking around the world. That's brilliant, that's…" My words were stalled by his sombre look. "That's… not good?" I asked, confused.

"It's… just early, that's all," He smiled. "There's no need to rush to accept them, you know? I haven't even finished my exams yet."

I smiled back, "But that is great, Scorpius."

"Yeah…" He mumbled a half-hearted reply as I hugged him.

I knew there was something he was keeping from me, but I let it go for today. Something told me it was serious, serious enough for Scorpius to keep it from me, so I just let it go.

I'd had enough reality for one day.

* * *

><p>The next few days were so hectic that I hardly saw Scorpius, Lily, Sam or any of my friends, really.<p>

Preparing for exams had been crazy, but actually taking them was a whole other issue. Despite the stress I'd caused myself before entering each exam, it was all almost worth it when I saw Peter Maroon with pure fear etched on his face when I passed him to enter the Charms exam.

They were examining us individually for certain spells and he had evidently just finished his exam as I was about to enter.

I must have had a crazy determined look in my eyes as I entered the room, appearing to walk straight at him as he stood by the door, hand gripped tightly round my wand as if that would help me remember the correct spells.

Needless to say, Peter scurried away pretty quickly, probably irrationally afraid I was going to curse him or something.

All in all, my exams were a massive blur. I came out of my last one, History of Magic, and walked straight into Lily.

"Oh, I'm really-" I froze, unsure of how to act.

"Rose!" She gushed. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"You have?" I asked, hesitantly.

"I…" She looked a little ashamed of herself. "I'm sorry. I really am."

"You spoke to Sam?" I asked, unnecessarily. Of course she had.

Lily nodded. "He… told me what was happening. I'm really sorry I had a go at you. I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I was just…"

"Lily, it's fine," I hugged my cousin. "You don't have to apologise."

She hugged me back. "You're amazing, you know that?"

"So I've been told."

* * *

><p>Scorpius was distracted all evening during rounds. He obviously didn't think I'd noticed because when we rounded the last corner and I finally called him out on it he looked completely surprised.<p>

"Nothing's wrong… E-Everything's fine."

He gave a weak smile and that was that. I didn't push it.

Some part of me, the instinctive part, was warning me not to. It felt as if that subconscious part of my brain knew that whatever it was, it wouldn't be good.

Two nights later, a week and a half since he'd started telling me I looked beautiful and kissing me out of the blue and generally acting rather more romantic than is strictly comfortable, I found out why.

I was sitting in the library. Yes, I know my exams were over, but I had been having a conversation with my mother about a particularly interesting aspect of Dark Magic and my curiosity had got the better of me. Madame Pince refused to let me take the book out of the library, so I sat in the restricted section at nine thirty, my head buried in one of the largest, oldest, dustiest books I'd ever seen, completely engrossed.

Just as I lifted up the candle I was using to read the small print better and study the diagram on the opposite page, Fred came out of nowhere.

I started.

Placing my hands on my heart, I glared at him as he took the seat opposite me. "How did _you_ get into the restricted section?"

"Madame Pince let me in," He breezed through the lie. I glared at him still. "Okay, so I snuck under the bookshelf in the corner, whatever, same thing."

I shook my head in mock disapproval. "It is _not_ the same thing, Frederick."

"It is to me," He grinned.

I shut my book, pointedly pushing it to the other side of the table so that Fred couldn't somehow ruin it. He leaned back in his chair, placing his hands behind his head and attempting to cross his feet on top of the table.

I shoved his feet off. "This is not your bedroom."

"Merlin, you're as bad as Aunt Mione," he teased. "What are you doing in here anyway?"

"Just reading up on some stuff before I'm confined to bad muggle libraries for the rest of the summer."

"And job hunting," He reminded me.

"And job hunting," I agreed. "I've got a few ideas and a few offers, but I'm still not sure what I'm doing yet."

"Well, we can't all be like Scorpius," He replied casually, placing his feet back on top of the table. "You've got until graduation to _really_ start making decisions."

"Yeah, I know," I sighed. "I just wanted to have everything organised before…"

I stared at him, my words trailing off as I took in his words. I picked up my bag. My eyebrows creased. My mouth formed a small 'o' as my thoughts tried to make sure I hadn't forgotten something before I spoke next.

"What?" Fred asked, confused, as I stared at him.

"What do you mean, 'like Scorpius'?" I asked.

"Well, he's already got that job in Bulgaria, so he's… sorted."

Fred trailed off when he realised I had no idea what he was talking about. He looked worried that I would explode with anger at the news.

I put my bag back down on the floor, then picked it back up again. I titled my head, refocusing my gaze on my cousin. "Bulgaria?"

"Yeah… he said... I, err, thought he'd told you?"

"No," I whispered impassively. "No, he hadn't."

"Oh, well… this isn't awkward."

I stood up, deliberated whether or not I could live with myself if I didn't put a book back in it's rightful place, then hurried out of the library. Madame Pince would probably be annoyed with me for not tidying up after myself, and for letting Fred in the restricted section, and she'd probably be hesitant to let me borrow books from there for the next few days, but I had to leave.

What, in the name of Merlin, was going on with Scorpius?

* * *

><p>I searched everywhere I could think of, then I had to admit defeat and seek him out in the Slytherin Common Room.<p>

As Head Girl I had the means and authority to be there, but, as a Gryffindor, it was weird.

I hesitated outside the door, but I knew I couldn't stay in the cold dungeon corridor forever, so I gave the password and entered. The Common Room was relatively full, though no more so than the Gryffindor Common Room would have been at this time. Many of the students gave me a puzzled, half-disapproving look as I crossed the threshold.

People still talked about us - it was still odd to some students. Not just because of the 'we-hate-each-other' attitude we used to have, or the fact that we had somehow managed to (mostly) make a relationship work as a Malfoy and a Weasley, but simply because we were Slytherin and Gryffindor.

Housing meant less than it had in my parents days, less to the students anyway, but schools still had their cliques and houses still had their roots no matter how accepting we'd become. Sure, we were less discriminatory towards each other, but we were still sorted into houses so we still had that friendly competition towards each other when pitted against each other, such as for the Quidditch Cup or the House Cup.

I dawdled by the doorway, aware I was getting some odd looks from some of the students. A few boys were playing chess in the corner of the room, a light green glow bouncing off their expensive chess board, and some fourth years sat quietly by the fire. Other than that there were only individuals doing last minute work or writing letters quietly at the desks.

Eventually, I had to move. I wandered over to the bulletin board on pretence that I was surveying it, only in the Common Room due to Head Girl duties.

As far as I could gather, the Slytherin's were really into their sports, and betting each other. The latest pool simply read _"Scott v. P - 2 weeks"_. Whatever it was, it was attracting large sums of money.

A fourth year almost made me jump out of my skin when she suddenly appeared beside me, addressing me with, "Rose Weasley?"

"Y-Yes, that's me…" I turned to look at her a little better.

A few girls around her age were watching from behind the sofa.

She had her hair in a short peroxide blonde bob, the tips died vibrant purple, and a matching purple over-sized bow tied into her hair. With her casual jeans and yellow tank top, she looked lovely.

"I'm Maggie." _Margaret Hanna, _I remembered. She was part of the Hogwarts choir. "Can I help you with anything?"

"I, err…" I stumbled to decide what to do. Ask if she could direct me to Scorpius? Deny her help and stumble around like an idiot until I found him? Leave and speak to him tomorrow?

Before etiquette deemed it was strictly necessary that I answer, I was saved.

"Rose?" I heard him call from across the room. Maggie and I turned as one to look at him, standing just beside the stairs, a book in hand, quill and parchment in the other, wearing jeans and a blue sweater.

Half the common room looked up at the sound of his voice, having raised it slightly to reach me from across the room and because, as Head Boy and Prefect, he held authority whenever he spoke.

"Hey," I replied weakly.

"What are you doing here?" He looked awkward as he came to stand by us, giving me a kiss on the cheek anyway.

"I… spoke to Fred."

"About what?" He looked confused.

"Bulgaria," I replied simply.

He started, flicking his eyes to Maggie and back, who hadn't even had time between our quick exchange to leave.

"Come with me," He said simple, gently pulling my hand so that I followed him as he led me across the room, up two miniature flights of stairs and down a short corridor until we reached his room.

He pulled me in and shut the door carefully.

I'd never been in his room before, I'd never even thought about it. It was, in some ways, similar to my own in Gryffindor. It was smaller, with only three beds, and the room was round. Silk green curtains hung off the two small windows between the beds, which were also adorned with various dark shades of silk green fabric both on the curtains and bedding. A trunk lay at the end of each bed and both windows had comfortable looking window seats. Because of the two flights of stairs we'd ascended, the bottom of the windows were level with the lake, creating a beautiful view of the grounds.

I turned to look at him as he shut the door behind us.

"Were you even _planning_ on telling me before graduation?" I asked. Not judgingly or accusingly, just… quietly.

"I was!" He tried to get me to understand, coming to stand beside me and taking my hands in his. "I was going to tell you today, I… didn't know what to say."

"How about _'Oh, by the way I'm leaving for Bulgaria for a year, see you later'_?" I spoke bitterly this time, pointedly dropping my hands from his and taking a step away.

"No, it wasn't like that, Rose," He sighed wearily. "You know it wasn't."

"Then what _was_ it like, Scorpius?" I half-exclaimed. "Were you going to tell me _anything_?"

"I did!" He replied in annoyance, but whether at me or himself I wasn't sure. "I told you The Aesalon Foundation offered me a place… just not that it was in Bulgaria."

"Yes, you failed to mention that _teensy tiny_ detail," I gestured wildly with my hands, unable to keep the anger from my voice.

Of course it was his life, he could do whatever he wanted. He wanted to be a Curse Breaker, he wanted an apprenticeship. I'd even helped him apply. But I didn't know they would offer him a job in Bulgaria. Besides, even that I could handle - we could work round it for a year.

What hurt me the most was that he hadn't told me about it, and the sense of rejection and fear of losing him so easily had irrationally manifested itself as anger and irritation at him.

"What did you want me to do?" He shot back, irritated too. "Just announce it one morning out of the blue at breakfast?"

He was being sceptical, but I ignored the tone. "At least then I would have been in the loop! I'm your girlfriend and, as much as I hate to use that card right now, you should have told me. And you certainly should have told me before _Fred_."

"Well now you know," He responded indifferently.

"Yes, now I do," I mirrored his tone.

We'd never really fought before, not like this. Sure, we used to argue constantly, arguments being the only type of conversation we had, but at least we'd been in mutual agreement that we hated each other. Now was different - we were arguing as a couple.

We stared at each other into the silence: my arms were resolutely folded across my chest, Scorpius' stiffly hanging by his side.

Then I softened.

"I hate this," I murmured slightly, collapsing onto his bed in the corner of the room.

He sighed sadly, softening his position too, and came to sit next to me, placing his hand hesitantly over mine on the bed between us. "Me too…"

"So what are we going to do?" I questioned quietly.

He didn't answer.

I looked up at him through my fringe, pieces of hair falling over my face, and he gazed back; half in defeat, half in contemplation.

After a moment of silence, Scorpius gently leaned over and pushed the strands of hair out of my eyes. "What do you think we should do?"

"I think… we should… decide what's easiest, and do that…"

"I could visit on my days off, although there won't be many - I'd be lucky to get one every couple of months, and you could visit on yours… it's only a year. We would have all the time in the world to be together after that…" He supplied eagerly.

"What about when you meet some beautiful Veela?" I half teased to lighten the mood, trying to stop myself from welling up.

"That would never happen," He smiled back, but his words were serious.

"Or… I could take a year out and live with you in Bulgaria?"

"Definitely not. You've worked too hard to get into the Ministry… I could decline the programme?"

"No," I was adamant on that. "It's the best programme out there. Just having the name on your CV would ensure you were never out of work."

"That only leaves us one option…" I spoke slowly, reluctantly, sadly.

His eyes locked onto mine, and we were both thinking the same thing, although neither of us was willing to voice it - _We could go our separate ways._

Abruptly the door was thrown open and Scorpius' dorm mates wandered in, laughing at something. They didn't notice us until they had crossed the threshold. Both sobered up and stopped walking immediately.

Scorpius and I started, both jumping up from the bed and turning to face them.

"Oh, sorry, man," The brown haired one spoke first, uncomfortable with interrupting us. "We didn't know you were…"

"We were just talking," Scorpius clarified. _No need to get the Heads into trouble from some rumour._ "It's okay Charlie."

"We can go-"

"No, that's fine," I interrupted him. "I was just… leaving. Talk to you tomorrow, Scor…"

I glanced at Scorpius, his fringe falling lightly over his eyes in the cute way it does and his hands deep in his pockets the way he stood when he was stressed. I couldn't imagine breaking up with him _now_, or in the near future. I didn't think I'd be able to just walk away from him.

But if we decided that was what was best for us, could I really stay?

He bit his bottom lip, but didn't say anything.

I took a step forward. He didn't say anything, so I took another. I almost made it out of the door before Scorpius finally found his voice.

"Wait, Rose," And he took the three steps across the room, past his dorm mates, who were now standing by their beds, and placed his hands either side of my face. He kissed me roughly for a few seconds, perhaps afraid it might be one of the last times, then let me go. "I'll see you tomorrow."

He said it so firmly, yet gently, I could only nod.

My feet guided me blindly out of the room, out of the common room, where I still managed to attract a few whispers, and back to Gryffindor Tower.

A small part of my brain, the part which thought about trivial things, recognised that Scorpius' dorm mates were probably making fun of him for kissing me like that. The other, more dominant part of my brain at the moment, was too busy deciding whether or not I could walk away from him.

I couldn't see Scorpius breaking up with me, but I was afraid I may be wrong. What if, when it all came down to it, he chose the job?

If it had been me, less than a year ago, I would have taken the job without a doubt. My career was my life then, my goals all centred around it. Now, Scorpius was important to me, and I knew I was important to him.

But so was this job.

I couldn't just sit back and let him lose it because of me.

Which left me with one option: I could walk away so that he didn't have to.

* * *

><p><strong>Again, don't kill me! I love them as much as you do, I promise.<strong>

**As cheeky as it sounds, I'd love a few more seconds of your time for a review? Pretty pleeeeeeease?**

**Kerry. x**


	26. Changes

**I can't believe this is the last chapter before the epilogue! But this story has always been intended as spanning Rose's last year at school, not including the epilogue.**

**I hope you all like this, sorry for some of the confusion last chapter.**

**Also, there are some rather fluffy moments, courtesy of Scorpius, so be prepared. :D**

**Enjoy!  
><strong>

* * *

><p>I sat in my dorm room, the early morning sun streaming through the window.<p>

The others were down at breakfast, so I had a rare moment of peace as I sorted through my things, deciding what to throw away and what to pack in my trunk.

The exams had all finished a few days ago, and this morning… it was my last morning as a student at Hogwarts.

I sighed quietly to myself.

I was going to miss it. The castle was cold, dark, even scary sometimes, but it was home. More so than the house my parents lived in.

That was the only positive thing about leaving: my parents. Without boarding school, I'd be able to see them more often, whenever I wanted to.

Unfortunately, there were many more negative points: I had to get a job, find somewhere to live, and sort out my relationship with Scorpius.

_Scorpius_, I sighed again.

I placed the last book in my trunk, standing up and dusting off my robes.

We'd largely ignored our conversation in his room three days ago. Not because we didn't want to sort us out, but because… we didn't know _how_ to sort it out.

I'd told him to accept his job - either way, he was going. I wasn't letting him throw it away. He needed perspective and objectivity when it came to me, and I was just the person to give it to him.

"You're not _still_ packing, are you?" An amused voice asked from the doorway.

I turned in surprise to see Scorpius leaning on the doorframe, eyebrows raised and a smile playing at his lips.

"Just finished, actually," I replied, returning his smile somewhat hesitantly. "How about you?"

"I sent most of my stuff to my parents yesterday. Everything else is in one suitcase, ready for… when I leave…"

"Oh, right… of course," I mumbled at the reminder, busying myself making my bed.

He sighed after a moment, stepping behind me, catching my left hand in his own. "Rose…"

"It's fine, why don't you go down to breakfast? I'll be right behind you…" I avoided his gaze.

"Rose, look at me."

"I'm fine."

He walked round my bed and sat on it, so that he was now in my line of vision and I had no excuse to ignore him.

For a moment, I forgot he was leaving, "Scorpius," I complained half-heartedly. "I just made the bed."

He pulled me down to lay on it next to him, and together we laid side by side, looking up at the ceiling. He pulled his arm across my head, his lips beside my ear.

"I'm not leaving you, Rose," He stressed. "I'm leaving England. For a short time, in comparison with the rest of our lives."

"I know…" I told him, but I didn't really believe his words. I'd never been good with relationships before him, so I couldn't see a long distance one working out. I didn't know if I would even let myself try - if I was already so pessimistic about it, I, unconsciously, wouldn't put in as much effort.

It wasn't like me to be sceptical but… I just _was _in this situation.

I tried not to let tears well up behind my eyes as I realised that this could be the last time we were together as a couple.

After breakfast we were getting on the train for home and Scorpius was meeting his family there, then they were driving him (I think they wanted to spend some time with him before he left) to the meeting point where he'd see the other seven people who had been accepted into the programme for the first time. From there he was apparating (once he'd received his pass) to the _'secret'_ headquarters in Bulgaria. I swear, they were treating the programme as if he was James Bond, or Indiana Jones or something.

"We don't have long," I muttered sadly.

He shuffled, turning on his side to face me. "Listen, Rose, I know you told me to accept this programme - practically made _sure_ I did - but… we haven't… we don't…"

He sighed in frustration.

"Shh," I tried to calm him down. "I know…"

We hadn't actually finished our conversation, or decided what we were doing. Were we still a couple when we stepped off the Hogwarts Express?

I hadn't made any plans to go with him. The Ministry had offered me a well-paying job in the Department of Magical Transportation. It was boring and tedious, but it was a start - it wasn't something I wouldn't ever _dream_ of turning down. Plus, Victoire was beginning to show in her pregnancy, and she relied on me for little things, mostly emotional support, but I'd read about interesting circumstances in magical pregnancies, namely Teddy being a Metamorphmagus, so she kept sending me letters in the middle of the night, panicking about weird things that had happened to her.

I suppose I kind of felt it was my duty to stay and help her.

"Come with me," He said it so softly as he nuzzled his nose in my hair, that I hardly heard him.

"Scorpius…" I warned. This wasn't a good road to go down. I couldn't just _go_, my parents would call it ridiculous to move across the world just because my boyfriend was.

"I'll miss you," He pressed. "I'll miss you more than anything. I just don't want to lose you, Rose."

"You won't," I tried to make sure he knew I was telling the truth as I stroked his cheek. "I promise you won't."

"But I can't just ask you to wait for me, for a whole year," He pointed out sadly.

"I would," I whispered. "If you ask me to, I will."

He shook his head, "No, It-"

"Scorpius," I turned his chin so that he was looking at me. "Ask me."

"Rose…" He complained again.

"I'll wait," I promised without him asking. "I'll visit you every weekend you're allowed out, if you want me to, it wouldn't take too long to get a Floo'ing permit from the Ministry. We can see each other all the time, and then, next year, when you come back, we'll be… us again. Everything will be normal."

He sighed. "Floo'ing to Bulgaria everyday isn't a good idea, it'll tire you out, and I'm not allowed to go too far except on select weekends - they're really strict at the programme."

"I know," I replied sadly. _We'd been over this before._ "Why can't I just not have a stupid job and family in England… if only I had someone in…"

I sat up so suddenly I think I got whiplash.

"Rose?" Scorpius asked hesitatingly as he sat up slowly too. "What's wrong?"

I stared at the wall I front of me for a moment, completely stunned at my own stupidity. Then I turned to Scorpius, "Charlie!"

Scorpius' eyebrows creased in confusion, "Charlie who?"

"Charlie _Weasley_! Who else?"

I scrambled up off the bed, rummaging in my trunk, completely disregarding my hours of neat packing.

Scorpius sat up on my bed, watching me curiously. "What, in the name of Bathilda Bagshot, are you doing?"

"Looking for my mirror," I told him as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Er, Rose, not to be too much of a guy or anything, but… _why_ would you want a mirror right now?"

"It's a two way mirror," I explained in a rush. "But Uncle George and James broke it, so it's now a six way mirror."

"And it still works?" He asked, incredulous.

"Yep, _aha_!" I produced the mirror shard, looking immensely pleased with myself.

"And what are you planning on doing exactly? Fixing Charlie's hair?"

"I'm going to see if Charlie will let me stay with him," I said as if it was obvious again.

"He lives in Romania."

"No, I forgot, but he moved to Bulgaria a couple of years ago. I hardly ever see him so it _completely _slipped my mind - how could I be so _stupid_!"

"What?" Scorpius jumped off the bed and came to sit beside me on the floor. "No way are you moving to Bulgaria!"

"Why not?" I asked, hardly fazed by his reaction. "It's perfect - he's family, so nobody will mind, and I _know_ he lives near the Curse-Breaker training ground - he helps out sometimes when they do Dragon related things."

"But… but…" Scorpius spluttered. "But you can't just decide to _leave_, not all of a sudden!"

"Why not?" I asked, his mood starting to deflate my own. _Did he not want me to go?_

Had we just switched places?_  
><em>

"Because it's not like you," He replied. "Listen Rose, I would _love _for you to be with me for the next year, but you can't just get off the Hogwarts Express and tell your parents, '_Sorry, but I'm moving to Bulgaria'._"

I sighed again, "You're right. My parents won't exactly love the idea, but what if I gave them two weeks - Uncle Charlie would have to get everything sorted out for me anyway…"

Scorpius hesitated. I knew he liked the idea, he was just trying to be realistic. "How do you know he'll even say yes?"

"He's wanted somebody to go out there for years, but none of us have had the time. He'll love the idea."

"What about Victoire?"

"She'll be fine. I'll drop in every now and then, and I'll owl her. Besides, she has other friends."

We grinned at each other for a moment.

"I just need to persuade my parents to let me follow my boyfriend to a foreign country…"

"What if… what if I wasn't your boyfriend?" He asked, looking straight at me.

I creased my eyebrows and tilted my head at him amusedly. "Then we wouldn't have this problem, would we?" I joked.

"No, Rose, _what if I wasn't your boyfriend_?" He put more emphasis on the words this time, but I still had no idea what he was talking about.

"Are you trying to break up with me?" I joked, repacking my trunk. "Cause this is, like, the worst moment you-"

"Rose, I'm asking you to marry me."

I froze.

Then I turned to stare at him, eyes wide in shock. "You… you, what?"

He didn't even blink. "Not… I don't mean we'd get married _now_. Just… marry me. Be my fiancée. It's a commitment, just so you know and our parents would know, that I'm serious. That _we're_ serious."

"I…" I swallowed, retracting my hands from my trunk and placing them on my heart to make sure it was there. _Yep, still beating_. "M-marry you?"

He nodded, taking my hands in his and leaning forwards. "You don't have to… accept, if you don't want to. I just… I don't want to leave you, I don't want to be with anybody else… I… You're the _best_ person I know, the only person I…" He was becoming flustered now, agitated. "I'm doing this all wrong, I'm sorry. Listen, Rose, I love you. I don't want… not that it's just me… I want you to, well, you know, _want _to marry me. I just… oh Merlin, I'm terrible at this-"

"Yes."

"-I don't mean to…" My heart beat uncontrollably in my chest as I looked into his eyes. His eyes widened. "You… mean it?"

"Yes," I laughed. "Yes. I'll marry you."

I couldn't believe what I was doing. It was crazy, it was irrational, it was _not_ 'Rose Weasley', yet it felt completely right.

He kissed me, cupping my face in his hands, his lips curving into a smile against my own.

As we pulled apart, his exuberant expression turned to fear. "Oh no… our parents are going to hate us."

I laughed as I pulled him down for another kiss. "I don't care."

* * *

><p>An hour later Lily came up to get me for breakfast. As the last day, the breakfast feast usually lasted until about half eleven, so it was really brunch when she knocked on the door.<p>

"Rose?" She called hesitantly through the door.

"Come in!" I sung back cheerily.

She pushed the door open with a confused, yet happy, expression on her face. Scorpius and I were laying on the bed together, but we sat up as she came in, the six way mirror from when we'd spoken to Charlie earlier at the end of the bed. "I don't mean to disturb you, but you haven't got long left before we have to leave."

"We're coming, Lils. Thanks for getting us."

"No problem," She looked a little weary at my easy smiles and light voice, having been used to my rather subdued appearance for the past couple of days.

We got up off the bed as Lily left. As soon as the door swung shut, Scorpius turned to me. "Here, I want you to have this."

He pulled his ring from his finger - it was black and green and held the Malfoy family crest on its face, a gift from his father. The ring had been something Astoria had had made for Draco, something to remind him that he shouldn't be ashamed of who he was, but also to signify a new start to his life. Draco had destroyed the old ring heirloom with the Malfoy family crest on and replaced it with this one.

I smiled up at Scorpius as he stepped in front of me, gently placing the gift on my ring finger.

"This is a promise to buy you a real one one day," He smirked.

I kissed him again. "I love it."

* * *

><p>We met the others in the Entrance Hall with our luggage. Students milled about, waiting for friends or family members before heading down to Hogsmeade train station.<p>

"There you are!" Al exclaimed as we reached them, Scorpius levitating my trunk for me, his own bag over his shoulder and hand in mine.

"Here we are," I repeated. "Are we the last ones?"

"Yep."

"We've been waiting for ages," Roxanne complained.

"No, you haven't," Lily laughed. "You and Fred only just got here."

Roxanne stuck her tongue out at her as we made our way out of the grounds, teasing Louis about being in Ravenclaw.

Halfway to the gates, I stopped, pulling Albus, Scorpius, Alice, Dom, Fred and Angie to a halt.

"What's wrong?" Alice asked as they followed my actions, turning back to look at the old, familiar castle behind us.

"This is it," I spoke quietly.

"Yeah," Fred agreed. Then he laughed. "Thank Merlin for that!"

"Fred!" Angie elbowed him.

"I'm going to miss it, in a weird way," Al agreed with me.

"Yeah, now we've got to get jobs and, y'know… start a life."

Scorpius and I exchanged covert glances out of the corner of our eyes, barely daring to move our heads.

"Take responsibility for our actions," Fred complained.

We all stood rooted to the spot. The summer breeze wafted lazily through the trees in the Forbidden Forest, the sun shone down onto the rippling lake, and the students called to each other happily to have a good summer.

This was home, for all of us, and we were leaving it.

"Come on," I sighed after a moment. "It's time to let go."

Scorpius squeezed my hand as we passed through the gates.

Hardly any time later, we were on the Hogwarts Express, the train had left the station, and we were well and truly past Duff Town and into the countryside.

The compartment was noisy, like always.

Unsurprisingly, Exploding Snap was the main attraction, and it resulted in a lot of bruising and burning, some minor arguments and one dodgy incident involving the melting of a Chocolate Frog.

Molly and Lucy were discussing their plans after Hogwarts with Al, Roxanne and Hugo when the spotlight was suddenly thrust onto Scorpius.

"You're parents are meeting you at the station, right, Scor?" Al's head spun round to face us, sitting in the corner of the compartment by the window.

"Er, yeah, with Claire," He confirmed.

"But you're gonna visit right?"

"I get one weekend off after four months, and the other after 8 months," He told his best friend sadly. "But I'll write to you."

"You better," Al punched him playfully on the arm, probably to make the conversation seem more manly, no doubt. "So long as you're not too preoccupied writing to Rose."

Scorpius and I exchanged a look. I didn't go unnoticed by the others.

"You are… staying together, right?" Alice asked quietly.

"Yes, of course," I laughed. Scorpius smiled at me, our secret passing between us.

The others knew something weird was going on and, like always, weren't exactly tactful.

"Is it just me," Roxanne spoke up. "Or is there something going on here that we don't know about?"

"Something definitely seems fishy," Fred agreed.

"Erm…" I looked to Scorpius.

"You may as well tell them…" He started. "About Bulgaria, I mean… the other thing… well, that's your choice."

I grinned at him.

"About Bulgaria?" Lucy asked.

"Scor, we already know you're going to Bulgaria."

"Not me… Rose," Scorpius stated.

They all turned to look at me in confusion.

"I'm… going to Bulgaria," I mumbled, self-conscious from all their gazes.

There was a pause. Then manic shouting.

"What?"

"No-"

"Mum and dad will kill you!"

"What about us?"

"What about the Ministry?"

"You can't just _leave_!"

"Alright, alright, calm down," I called. They, for once, did as I said. I rolled my eyes. "Believe it or not, I _did_ think about those things before I made the decision."

"When… when do you leave?" Al asked quietly. He was subdued for once - although, his best friend and favourite cousin were leaving the country for a year, of course he was sad.

"In two weeks. Uncle Charlie is really excited about having me stay there, and I'd like to see him for more than a couple of hours, to be honest. It'll be nice having a change of scenery, and I'd get to be with Scorpius too."

"So you're leaving the country to be with your boyfriend?" Molly scoffed.

"Well, partly," I sighed - I knew this reaction was a given. "But that's not the only reason I'm going. Uncle Charlie needs help, he's lonely and I can fill that gap. Besides, it's only for a year, I'm not moving there forever."

"What about your job at the Ministry?" Hugo asked.

"Doing paperwork for the Department of Magical Transportation? It's not exactly my goal in life. It's part time anyway and they allow people to do it from abroad. They need contacts in foreign countries anyway. I already spoke to Mr Dartsworth, and he's happy for me to transfer to the team in Bulgaria."

Al, Hugo and Fred all stared at me in disbelief.

"You've really thought this through," Louis commented.

"I have."

"And you're definitely going?" Lily asked, a little put out.

"I am."

Nobody said anything for a few minutes, the scenery passing us by. Then Dom blurted out, "What if you break up?"

"Dom!" Lily and Alice reprimanded her.

Scorpius and I exchanged another look.

"Rose…" Lily started, a twinkle in her eye. "Don't tell me you… did something stupid…"

The others turned to look at her, confusion etched across their faces, but I knew what she was getting at.

She knew.

"It's not stupid, Lily. It's what we want."

"Okay, will somebody please explain what's going on?" Hugo complained. "My sister is leaving the country with her boyfriend in two weeks and our parents are going to go mental. What can I have missed?"

"We…" Scorpius started, then gulped. The faces of Fred, Al, Hugo and Louis stared up at him, curious, and he bottled out of it.

"Chicken," I mumbled in his ear.

"You tell them then," He whispered back.

"We… won't break up," I finished for Scorpius, a little ambiguously.

"No offence, because I don't want it to happen or anything," Dom started. "But-"

"-you don't really know that, do you?" Angie interrupted.

"They're right," Alice reluctantly agreed. "You guys are great together, but who knows where you'll be in a _year_. It's not like you're getting mar… Oh, Merlin!"

She gasped at the same time as realisation dawned on most of the others.

Alice, Lucy and Roxanne covered their mouths with their hands whilst Al, Fred and Hugo looked like they were in total shock. Louis, Molly and Angie exchanged disbelieving looks.

Lily looked rather relaxed. _Just like Aunt Ginny_, I thought affectionately.

I coughed as Scorpius' hand gripped mine a little tighter. He was probably imagining the millions of different ways my cousins were going to murder him.

"You _what?_" Al exploded first, darting to his feet.

"You're barely out of _school_!"

"You are _not_ getting married!" Dom shook her head. "No way."

"Why not?" I asked casually, as if we were talking about the latest Quidditch Match.

"No," Molly agreed. "Your parents would never allow it."

"Why not?" I repeated. "They like Scorpius."

"As your boyfriend," Angie pointed out neutrally, but she smiled at me and winked in support.

"Molly's right," Lucy sighed. "Uncle Ron will go _catatonic_."

Their words frightened me a little. After all, if _they_ responded so negatively, what would my parents say? I knew my dad hated the Malfoy's, although at least he could stand to be in the same room as them now. My mother… she was tricky. She loved Scorpius and she was always accepting of him, but the past was the past, and there was only so much Malfoy she could take in her life. She'd been tortured at their Manor, and Scorpius' ancestors were the one's to do it.

"Well, I like it."

My head snapped round in shock at my little brother. "You… do?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, why not? It's not exactly like any of us thought you were going to break up anyway."

"I agree," Lily said, whilst Alice nodded.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you, I just… don't want you to get your hopes up that the adults are going to be pleased about this," Dom said.

"I'm not deluding myself," I snapped finally. "And it's not like we're getting married _tomorrow_. It's just for the future. The rather _distant_ future."

I don't think Scorpius had breathed throughout the entire conversation and, when I followed his gaze, I realised why.

Al was glaring at him.

"Al…" I prodded nervously. "What do you think?"

"What do I _think_?" His eyes were so wide I thought I was seeing things. "I think it's crazy, absolutely bloody mental! No _way_ is Uncle Ron going to let you marry Scorpius Malfoy."

He stood up, unsure of what to do. He wasn't angry, he was just… confused, I think. Surprised.

"Are you… mad?" Scorpius asked quietly, nervously.

"I'm… no, I'm bloody well not mad, am I?" He suddenly laughed. "I'm happy for you, really. I'm just… this is crazy."

"I know," Louis whispered his agreement.

"I know," Scorpius added.

"I know," I finished.

"So… you're really doing it?" Angie asked. "You're really engaged?"

I grinned. "Scary, I know."

"But we're not getting married yet," Scorpius reminded them. "We've just… come to an understanding."

"Of _loooove_," Fred teased.

I flicked my wand so a Pumpkin Pasty flew into his face.

Scorpius and I blushed. _Why couldn't we talk about someone else's love life for once?_

Everyone started laughing, and the conversation changed, an unvoiced agreement that we wouldn't say any more on Scorpius and mine's relationship and that they wouldn't tell. For once, I knew none of them would say anything until we had - it was just too serious to mess around with.

As the train pulled into the station at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, Al leaned over to whisper something into Scorpius' ear. He nodded seriously, then laughed nervously as Al said, "And good luck with Uncle Ron."

We filed off the train, the others disappearing into the smoke.

Al, Scorpius and I were left together, standing awkwardly in a circle as our respective families stood a little way off, watching patiently as we said our goodbyes.

I pretended to be busy with something in my bag as Al and Scorpius said goodbye. It was rather tearful, even though they tried to hide it.

They even hugged.

It was that serious.

"Thanks for… y'know… you know, being… my friend, yeah?" Al said lamely.

Scorpius nodded. "I'm still your mate, I'm just not gonna be around for a little while."

"Look after Rose, yeah?" Al asked seriously.

"With my life," Scorpius promised rather melodramatically.

Then Al walked away, giving me a look that clearly told me to stick to my guns when it came to telling the adults, about both Bulgaria and Scorpius and I.

I turned to him, already feeling the tears come as I saw his family shuffle restlessly out of the corner of my eye - they were on a strict deadline.

"Hey, hey," He tried to shush me by pulling me into a tight hug. "Don't cry, come on, it'll be fine."

"S-s-sorry," I tried to smile. _Imagine if you **had** stayed in England, Rose. You would have been an absolute **mess**. _"I didn't want to cry. It's so… so weak."

He laughed. "Rose Weasley, needing a man? Never."

"Rose Malfoy might though."

His lips curved into a smile at that. "Nope, not even her. She's a Gryffindor, don't forget. She's courageous and loyal, she can hold her own."

"If you say so," I laughed, stroking his face even though my parents were watching.

"Come on," Scorpius took a deep breath, "We better tell our parents."

I nodded hesitatingly. "They'll go mental."

"I don't care," He repeated my earlier phrase. It made me smile.

He took my hand and led me over to where our parents were standing, our mums trying to make small talk. As soon as they saw our faces, they were suspicious.

As I hugged my mum, I whispered into her ear, "_Please_ don't hate me."

She gave me an apprehensive, quizzical look as I pulled away.

"Rosie!" My dad exclaimed happily, breaking across our conversation. He picked me up and spun me around.

I heard Scorpius greeting his parents and sister beside me. "Hey, dad…"

"I've missed you!"

"I missed you too, dad," I smiled as he put me down. "I… need to tell you something."

"What is it?" He smiled, not catching on to my serious expression.

"I want to move to Bulgaria in two weeks," I blurted before I could chicken out.

Scorpius' parents also turned to look at me, incredulous.

"What?" My mother asked finally.

"Not forever," I explained quickly, now that I knew they hadn't died from shock or anger. "Just for a year, whilst Scorpius is out there. And before you say anything, I spoke to the Ministry _and_ Uncle Charlie - he really wants me to come stay with him. Says he misses his family, and I miss him too."

"Mr Ron, if I may," Scorpius added. "I… didn't want her to just up and move her whole life for a year. I really tried to dissuade her, but she's determined…"

"It was completely my decision," I agreed, glancing nervously at my dad.

He was frozen, but his eyes moved between us, and I knew his mind was working faster than lightening on whatever thoughts had come into his mind. Draco Malfoy looked completely and utterly shocked. Both Astoria and my mum evidently thought we were crazy, because when my mother spoke next, Astoria nodded.

"I know you two want to be together," She started kindly. "But moving to Bulgaria is a serious commitment Rose. You don't know what'll happen in three months, how your emotions may change, let alone twelve. I want what's best for you, I do, and I'll support you in anything, but I don't think, logically, that moving abroad because of your boyfriend is a good idea."

"It's too much for you to understand at your age," Astoria agreed.

"No offence, Scorpius, you're a lovely boy but I don't know how serious you are, and-"

"Serious enough to ask Rose to marry me."

Even _I _stared at him in shook - he voice was so determined, so _sure_, so honest. And I hadn't expected him to just _say it, _had I?

I saw four pairs of eyes gaze down at out intertwined hands, at the ring on my fourth finger as it tangled between Scorpius'.

"No," Draco stated.

"Absolutely not," my dad said at the same time.

"For once, Weasley, we agree."

They both looked surprised.

"See, it's not like you two can't get on," I pointed out.

"Rose," my mother actually let out a small laugh at that. "This isn't exactly what I'd call _'getting on'_."

"I agree," Astoria nodded, shifting a sleeping Claire in her arms. "I don't think you've thought this through."

"We have," Scorpius and I spoke at the same time.

"Rosie…" My dad's sad tone caught my attention. "You… want to marry a Malfoy?"

"I want to marry _Scorpius_," I corrected.

"It's not Scorpius we're finding it hard to accept," My heart dropped when I realised my mum was including herself in that opposition. "It's… forgive me Astoria and Draco, it's the past we've had with the Malfoy's. I don't think the family would… necessarily accept it."

"Then we'll be Weasley," Scorpius said, even though his father looked horrified at the idea. The other three stared in shock, not even bothering to close their mouths. "I don't care. I really don't. I just want to be with Rose."

He blushed at the end, and I thought it was both sweet and embarrassing for him to say.

"No," My dad finally said. "I'm sorry Rose. Scorpius is a great kid, and I got over you dating him, and I'm calm now, but no."

"I think it's a great idea," Hugo suddenly appeared, scaring the life out of us all.

"Hugo?" My mother asked, surprised.

"What's not to like?" He continued casually. "It was kind of obvious - why else would dad go so crazy when he first found out they were dating? And two ancient families are reconnecting. Face it, it'll bring an end to any prejudices of younger generations… it was kind of inevitable really."

Even Scorpius and I were staring at him now.

_Who knew Hugo was so… philosophical._

"You're completely behind this?" Astoria asked my brother. "One hundred percent?"

"Totally," Hugo answered casually, ruining the philosophical vibe. "And so are the others. Besides, they're not getting married _now_, are they? They're just promising to get married later on, like in five or ten years, promising they'll still be together or that they're at least giving this a serious go - you wouldn't want Rose to just move to Bulgaria if there _wasn't _a promise, would you? Besides, by the time they actualyl get round to the whoel wedding thing, you'll all be over it."

My mother's lips twitched as if she wanted to smile - Hugo's words made it obvious he thought they were overreacting.

"Well, I'm in support if you are, Hermione," Astoria suddenly smiled at Hugo. "He's a smart boy."

_Hang on, how had _Hugo_ been the one to persuade them?_

"Well, I…" My mother looked torn, surprised by the change in conversation, then she caught my face, and all anxiety left. "You can't help who your ancestors are - muggleborn or pureblood - and I'm certainly not going to be a hypocrite a persecute someone for it."

She grinned and I breathed out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

My dad and Scorpius' shook their heads. "No! Why isn't anybody listening? This is ridiculous. There's no way I'm letting you marry a Malfoy."

"And same to you Scorpius - I'm open minded, I'm not foolish."

"It's not harming you, father!" Scorpius snapped finally. "I know grandfather will go crazy - with a bit of luck it'll be enough of a shock to give him a heart attack-," He spat those words out bitterly. "-But it's not like I was going to invite him to the wedding. We don't have much family, family I'm proud of or want to keep in contact with, so let me have my own family. Let me marry Rose - she, and you guys, _are_ my family."

Even my dad looked impressed at his words. "A Malfoy who's willing to be disgraced by his own family and change his name? I think… I think you might have won me over."

He looked confused by his own words, by the fact that he'd said them.

"I never thought you'd say that, Ronald," My mother looked impressed.

"You- you mean it?" I asked, just to make sure.

My dad hesitated, reluctant to agree for a moment, but then gave in.

"Thank you!" I yelled as I launched myself at him. "Thank you, thank you! I love you, you know that?"

He laughed, half disorientated, half resigned. "You'll always be my little girl though."

"Draco?" Astoria asked as I pulled away from my father.

"Well, I don't have a choice, do I?" He sighed, but he didn't look too angry about it. Now that everybody else had given their consent, what else was he going to do? Besides, I had gotten the impression he actually liked me, something which Scorpius had confirmed.

Scorpius, uncharacteristically, hugged his father, something which shocked Draco more than our engagement announcement. "_Thank you," _He breathed, squeezing his dad enough to knock the wind out of him.

"Now," Astoria looked flustered as they stepped apart. "We better get going, we're already late."

"And… Mr Ron," Scorpius looked nervous. "I'm really sorry I didn't ask your permission first, I-"

"That's fine, Scorpius," My dad sighed. "You wouldn't be the first one to forget…"

He shared a glance with my mother, and I got the distinct feeling he wasn't one to remember to stick to tradition either. Althougth, knowing my father, he probably didn't _plan_ a proposal, it probably sort of... came out of his mouth.

Scorpius awkwardly extended his hand to shake my dads as I turned to Astoria and, before I knew it, hugged her. She let out a short, amused laugh, and huggedme back happily.

When we pulled apart, and Scorpius had hugged my mother, and I his father (do I need to explain how strange _that_ was?), Scorpius turned to me, "See you in two weeks?"

I sighed, "Two weeks. Definitely. I'll be there."

Then he kissed me.

"I love you, Rose Weasley."

I laughed as he and his still-dazed parents turned to leave. "Just go, Malfoy!"

* * *

><p><strong>Sooo... thoughts? I <em>really<em> really hope you like it.**

**You guys are actually just the most amazing people ever. Yes, you. You, reading this right this second: YOU'RE WONDERFUL.** **Thank you all an incredible amount for reading and reviewing and just generally sticking with this story and being so encouraging about it.**

**The epilogue won't be too long, but it will definiely be at least a week - so sorry about that!**

_Kerry. x_


	27. Epilogue

**You guys, I am _so_ sorry about the delay in this! I really am: busy schedule, writers block finishing off the last few bits, and then BAM - virus on my laptop. *shake head* Damn bad luck, I tell you. Anyways, if you're still out there (_please be! I love you!_) here's the last chapter, the epilogue.**** I can't believe this is the end of these characters (of thischaracterisation anyway)! I so desperately want to write a sequel, but I need a plot, a focus point so I know where it ends, otherwise I'll either have trouble writing or I'll never finish and I'll waffle. But anyways, if anyone wants to read more of this 'universe' and has any ideas let me know. :D**

**I hope you enjoy this. Be warned: it's the last chapter. Fluff galore, but I kinda called some of the cheesy moments, so hopefully they're bearable to read. I wanted to end this on a happy note, so I hope you like it.**

**Lastly, Disclaimer: Harry Potter will forever me important to me, but sadly I do not own it. I just love it very much, and want to share it with you wonderful people. :D  
><strong>

* * *

><p>"I <em>swear<em> it was here, like, two minutes ago…"

"Did you check the living room?"

"Twice," Scorpius called back dejectedly. Even from the bedroom where I was finishing getting dressed, I could hear the perplexity in his voice. "I _swear_ I put it on the counter last night…"

"I didn't see it."

"Maybe Charlie stole it?" He called jokingly.

I sighed audibly as I finished buttoning up my shirt. "You can't tell, but I'm rolling my eyes at you."

I heard him laugh and, a second later when I wandered into the adjoining living room from our bedroom, I saw him grinning widely at me from his position sprawled across our sofa.

I tilted my head and raised an eyebrow. "Yes, you seem to be looking so _very_ hard…"

He smirked at me.

"What?" I asked when he didn't offer any reply. "Seriously, what? Is there something on my face?"

"You look beautiful."

I rolled my eyes again, making sure he could see it this time, to cover up my blush. I'm pretty sure it didn't work. "And you look lazy. Get up and get ready, Scor. We're leaving in less than ten minutes."

"More like twenty," He smiled back, not even making a move to budge. "Charlie's always late."

"He's a busy man," I retorted, grinning, as I finished putting my earrings on and resorted to searching for my shoes, checking across the counter that divided the kitchen and living room in our small open plan apartment. "Besides, his timing's great."

"Looking for these?" Scorpius teased, raising my shoes in his hands, still laying casually across the sofa.

He was wearing jeans and a v-neck top, nothing special, and his hair was messy like it always was. He looked so deliciously, annoyingly casual and care-free, I wanted to hit him or something.

_I_ was always the one who panicked and fretted over the negative possibilities of a situation, whereas Scorpius just calmly took things as they came.

I shot him a smile and snatched the shoes out of his hands, even as he tried to pull them out of my reach.

"Seriously, Scor, the more relaxed you seem, the crazier I get."

He smirked at that, sitting up to make room for me on the small sofa. "It's only your family, Rose."

"Yes, but we haven't seen them for eight months."

"So?"

"What do you mean, _'So'_?"

"So?" He repeated, trying to hide his smirk.

"So they're going to be loud and crazy and nosey."

"They're _always_ like that, Rose," I titled my head in a _'I guess your right'_ gesture. "Besides, we're only going to be there for a couple of days. I've got to get back for Early Centuries Counter-Curses on Tuesday."

"Tuesday?" I finished strapping on my shoes and turned to look at him, painfully aware there was a pathetically sad expression on my face. "I thought you started on Thursday?"

"I did too," He sighed, the cheeky smile gone for once, and I could now see the bags under his eyes. The programme worked them hard, with long hours, but Scorpius was usually very good at remaining positive. "They had to move it up a few days. That still gives us Saturday and Sunday with your family, and Monday to get home and spend some time together, just the two of us."

I gave him a weak smile. "Just another four months, and I'll actually see you more than breakfast and when you crawl into bed at two in the morning."

He pulled me into a hug. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," I mumbled into his shoulder. "At least I get that. If I'd stayed in England, I'd have seen you one weekend back in August at most."

"Glad you came?" He asked hesitantly.

I pulled back to look at his face, and grinned. "Definitely."

Just to prove my point, I leaned forward and kissed him. Then a prompt knock on the door pulled us apart.

Scorpius groaned. "Yeah, great timing, that guy…"

I grinned, amused, and slapped him on the knee. "Put your shoes on, and grab your coat. You've got two minutes."

"Are you always this bossy?" He teased as he headed into the bedroom and I made my way past the adjoining kitchen and to the door.

"Yes," I laughed in reply over my shoulder as I pulled the door open.

My Uncle Charlie stood there, looking just the same as always, relatively long hair (only down to his shoulders as half of it had been singed off last week by a Hungarian Horntail). His shirt was half tucked in to his ruined jeans and the sleeves were rolled up, showing the boils and blisters and burns on his arms.

"Rosie!" He greeted cheerfully, opening his arms wide for a hug. I acquiesced, then turned to grab my weekend bag from the kitchen counter by the door as Scorpius came stumbling out of the bedroom, shoes half on, laces untied and unzipped bag thrown over his shoulder.

I shared a look with Charlie and shook my head. "You're such a mess," I teased my fiancé.

"Yeah," He grinned, joining us and wrapping his arms around me, "but I'm _your_ mess."

I laughed, kissed him, then ushered them both out the door. As I went to lock it Scorpius turned to me.

"Oh, wait, I was still looking for my…"

I grinned and opened my hand, revealing the photo he'd been looking for earlier. It was of him and two other Curse Breaker apprentices, grinning gleefully and waving at the camera, standing in an enormous vault they'd just successfully broken into, surrounded by gold.

"You're brilliant, did I ever tell you that?"

"Once or twice…" I teased.

"Al's going to love this."

"He's going to be jealous, you mean?"

"Exactly."

Even Charlie laughed.

The Ministry of Magic in Bulgaria insisted we use their fireplaces to floo to England, which was useful considering Scorpius and I didn't have a fireplace at our apartment, and Charlie… well, let's not go into that, but he's not _allowed _a fireplace.

By the time we'd floo'd from the British Ministry to The Burrow and stepped out onto the same old rug Nana Molly's had for years, I was rather dizzy.

Scorpius followed me into the living room a second later, Charlie right behind him.

We were early, so the living room was deserted, looking just a homey as it always did, clutter filling every surface, but there was noise coming from outside, and the kitchen. Through the back door we could see the majority of my relatives setting up tables, chairs, lights, warm fires to protect from the cold, and decorations outside.

As I made for the kitchen I heard scrambling and banging from a couple of floors up, then my Aunt Ginny, same as always, yelling at the top of her voice at Albus and James. Granted, they were both considered adults in the magic world, but they would never outgrow annoying each other, and thus their mother.

I shot Scorpius a grin as Charlie bolted upstairs to join the _'fun'_, as he called it.

Scor and I opted for the kitchen, the calmer scene. Nana Molly was cooking with my mother and Aunt Audrey, Lily, Fred and Roxanne were seated at the table, and my Uncle Harry was leaning on the side of the counter, trying to sneak some food, but failing miserably. My mother kept giving him those disapproving looks they'd he'd gotten used to in his lifetime, but still withered under.

As soon as we walked in, they all jolted in surprise, then began the chaotic shouting and excited exclamations.

"I thought you'd be another hour at least?"

"Rose!"

"Oh my god!"

"What-!"

"Hey, you guys," I grinned, suddenly overwhelmed with the joy and love they bombarded us with as Scorpius and I were hugged in turn.

When I found myself face to face with my mother, I started to cry. Not overdramatic, loud sobs, just quiet tears of happiness - I hadn't seen her in a long time, and it felt nice to be hugged by her. She released me wordlessly, handing me over to a sympathetic Scorpius, who guided me back to the table as the others took their seats again.

Scorpius tilted my head up to look at him as I tried to hide my tears from the others - the last thing I needed was them thinking I was sad at a time like this - and gave me a sincere smile, whispering "It's good to be back home."

I nodded an agreement, trying not to let any more tears out at the fact that he'd called The Burrow home.

As I discreetly wiped the happy tears from my eyes, Scorpius spoke up. "How's England been?"

My relatives smiled, turning their attention back to us, apart from Nana Molly and my mum, who were concentrating mostly on trying not to burn the food they were cooking.

"Boring," Lily supplied.

"Cold," Roxanne agreed.

"How's Bulgaria?" Fred asked.

"Comparatively warm," I grinned, teasing him. "Even in winter."

Fred stuck his tongue out at me. "So you get to live it up in Bulgaria for a year with your boyfriend, and I have to work long hours doing paperwork at the Ministry. How is that fair?"

"I do work, _Frederick_," I pointed out.

"And how's that going, Rosie?" My mother asked kindly from across the counter.

"Good. The people there are really nice, and the Ministry already offered me a job in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement in the Wizengamot Administration Services when we move back. Mr Landy said I could make Head of Department in two years if I work hard enough."

"Hey," Fred exclaimed, suddenly reaching an epiphany, it seemed. "If Scorpius messes up in his job, he'd have to report to you."

I grinned mischievously as Scorpius' eyes widened and he looked alarmed. "I know."

"Oh Merlin…" He sighed in defeat.

"Hey, being married to the boss might go in your favour," Roxanne pointed out.

I rolled my eyes at the speed in which the marriage had come up. Scorpius looked a little embarrassed at the short term tense Roxanne seemed to be implying.

Before anybody could comment further, Hugo bounded into the room, colliding straight into me and wrapping his arms around me tightly.

"Merlin, Rosie, I've missed you!" He mumbled into my neck.

I was a little surprised. I mean, I loved Hugo, obviously, but we'd never been ones to hug that often, or miss each other too quickly. We were close, but we were independent, and different in a lot of ways, so we didn't mind being apart.

Although, I suppose 8 months was a long time, and I almost began tearing up again as I ruffled his messy brown hair.

_What was wrong with me? You're fine, Rose. It's only your family._

_Family you're close to and haven't seen in a long time._

I hugged my little brother back, and pulled out the chair next to me for him to sit on. As he did so, I replied, obviously a little unnerved, "I missed you too, Hugh…"

"I'm so glad you're back - I need reason in my life for a couple of days!"

"Hey!" My cousins complained as the parents laughed.

My dad appeared at that moment, copying Hugo's move exactly, reminding me how childlike he could be sometimes, and capturing me in a hug. Then he turned happily to Scorpius.

"Scorpius!" He smiled, hugging him too in his excitement.

Needless to say, Scorpius' confused, surprised expression was priceless, and I had to stifle a laugh.

"Mr Weasley," Scorpius replied nervously, patting him on the back.

I shot my stupid fiancé an amused smirk as I suppressed rolling my eyes. He was nervous around my dad, probably paranoid he knew about the changes in our relationship. We were a couple, in every sense of the word - we shared an apartment, kindly provided by the Aesalon Foundation, and a bedroom. Scorpius' paranoia that my father knew was… well, hilarious in my eyes.

My mum and Lily gave me _'WTF?'_ looks, but I just shook my head and shrugged as if I didn't have a clue.

"Hey, is Al here?" I asked suddenly, stealing a Pumpkin Pasty from Fred. "I haven't seen him yet."

"He's outside putting the finishing touches on the decorations," my mother told me.

"He's becoming quite feminine," Fred added happily, teasingly.

"And remind me again _why_ we're eating outside in _December_, when it's been snowing?" I addressed my mother, verbally ignoring Fred's comment, but shooting him a grin to show I heard.

"There's fire out there, we'll be warm enough," Lily pointed out.

"We won't all fit in the living room, and it's not raining, so we figured why not have a nice meal outside?" Nana Molly spoke up.

"Because we'll freeze to death, maybe?" My dad replied.

My mum grinned at him, evidently trying to be reprimanding but failing. "Ronald…"

He shot her a charming smile. "Hermione," he responded in the same, teasing tone.

She rolled her eyes as Scorpius and I stood up, pulling my by the hands with him.

As we made to head out into the garden he whispered into my ear, his hand on the small of my back as we walked, "Hey, they're us."

"Or we're them," I agreed, our faces only inches apart as we walked as close together as possible and exited the kitchen.

Smiling, I tightened my coat, and Scorpius, around me to shield away the cold as we stepped outside. My boots crunched in the thin layer of snow on the ground and a second later I felt Scorpius' hand firmly on my elbow, making sure I remained upright.

"You know, this time last year… we started dating…"

I stopped to look at him. "We did."

"Any regrets?" He teased.

"_Merlin_, yes!" I teased back. He feigned hurt so I kissed him on the cheek to sooth the blow.

Al's voice broke us apart.

"Scorpius! Rose!" He called, then raced over to us from where he'd been attempting to levitate two tables together, managing not to slip on the ice.

I thought he would hug me, because his arms were thrown wide, but then he turned to Scorpius and bombarded his mate with the force of his hug,

I spun to look at them, mouth open in surprise that _my_ _favourite cousin_ had hugged his friend instead.

Scorpius smirked at me over Al's shoulder.

"I hope you're happy there in that hug," I told him as Lucy, Lily, Fred, James and Alice came wondering over, amused smiles on their faces, ready to tease them. "Because that's the most you're getting from me any time soon."

Scorpius tilted his head and raised his eyebrows. "Hey, he hugged me!" Al pulled away and gave his friend a pretend hurt look. "No offence - it's not that I don't appreciated it, mate."

"No offence taken," Al slapped him on the back, turning _finally_ to hug me.

I grinned and hugged him back. "You're getting taller."

"You're getting smaller," he retorted teasingly. I pretended to hit him as we broke apart. "But I missed you anyway."

"Why thank you, Al, it's a comfort to know that my height hasn't diminished your affection for me."

I could see Scorpius smirk from behind my cousin as Al grinned after a moments hesitation, and teased, "Look who got feisty in Bulgaria!"

I rolled my eyes as we made our way over to the others, who had taken up chairs around one end of the table. Scorpius pulled out the chair to my right and sit in it. I sat in his lap and we both used my chair to rest our feet upon. It was a natural thing for us to do, but the others all looked a little surprised with the ease at which we did it: it was so domestic, anyone would think we'd been together for years.

"How's Quidditch been going, Jamesy?" I asked the eldest Potter as he sat across from us.

"They finally offered me a place as Seeker!"

Apparently this wasn't just news to Scorpius and I, because the others all spun to face him, exclaiming happily.

"Wow, that's amazing, James! Well done!"

"Thanks," He actually blushed a little. _James Potter_ blushed. "Elodie's taking me up to see her family next week, so at least I'll have an achievement to tell them."

Lily playfully punched her brother on the shoulder. "You've got loads to be proud of, James."

He looked surprised, like the rest of us, at his sisters out of character compliment, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. I smiled awkwardly at his sister, "Thanks, Lils…"

"You passed your OWLs, right? Nobody thought that would happen…"

James changed to glaring at her, as we all laughed, pushing her off her chair.

"Hey!"

"You deserved it, sis."

They devolved into playful abuse at each other, until a voice behind mine and Scorpius' heads snapped every one out of their amusing banter.

"If Lily's not sitting in that chair, does anybody mind if I do?"

I snapped my head round at the voice, coming face to face with a very pregnant Victoire.

"Tory!" I exclaimed, jumping up off Scorpius (and I had been comfy, so I definitely loved my cousin). She laughed at my surprised expression, and the awkwardness with which I had to hug her. "How are you? How's the baby? How's Teddy? When are you due? Sorry I haven't been around? Do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?"

She laughed heartily, grinning and thanking James and Fred as they passed the empty chair across the table for her to sat on next to me. As she sat down and I took my seat back on Scorpius, she addressed my questions.

"Blimey, Rose, you've got inquisitive since I last saw you."

"Sorry," I grinned.

"Don't be, I missed it," She laughed again, and I was so happy to see her happy. "To answer your many, _many_ questions… I'm brilliant, the baby's brilliant… the other baby, Teddy, is brilliant and we're due in a week or so."

I squealed. I know it was unlike me, but… come on, I'd be an aunt, and a godmother if the offer still stood, in about a weeks time.

"I can't believe it's almost here!" I replied happily.

"Thank Merlin!" Tory joked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I love carrying this baby around, and being pregnant is an unforgettable experience, but _Merlin_ the hormones, and the backaches and the many other pains that come with it will not be missed! I'll be so glad when I can get into my sweat pants again, let alone my jeans!"

I laughed, as did the others. "I'll take you out shopping for a new pair of jeans when the baby comes, yeah? Just cause."

The surprise was evident in her voice and expression, be she responded happily all the same. "You don't have to, Rosie, really. I'm still making you godmother, I promise."

I heard Scorpius' low chuckle in my ear and felt his breath on my neck at that.

"It's just because I miss you, Tory, and besides, I need a good shopping trip."

"You're on then," Tory grinned. "Besides, I need a new pair of jeans, and it's not like Teddy and I can afford it."

"Is this trip open to tag alongs?" Alice suddenly spoke up from her seat next to Al and across the table from Tory.

"Definitely," We both agreed.

"You too, Roxanne, Lucy, Molly, Lily…"

The guys all looked at each other in silence for a moment.

"Anyone fancy some paintballing that day?" Scorpius proposed.

"I'm in!" Teddy agreed, suddenly joining us from nowhere.

Fred groaned. "You're just going to blend in to the background, Ted. It'll be impossible to find you!"

We laughed as Teddy feign frowning. "I'm not a chameleon, Freddie… well, actually, I kind of am… but still…"

He leaned down to hug me and I ruffled his hair. "I've missed you Rose!"

"Right back at you, Teddy."

"Scorpius looking after you?" He addressed the question to me, but he looked at Scorpius.

I laughed as I felt Scorpius' body stiffen in alarm for a moment. "Of course. Couldn't have found anyone better."

My fiancé kissed my neck to show his affection, but that was enough for the others - I sometimes forget they're still mostly single, awkward teenagers - to groan.

"Stop with the lovey-dovey ness," Roxanne told us seriously, but there was still amusement in her voice.

Her eye roll and tone reminded me of someone suddenly and, instead of addressing her, I blurted, "Hey, where's Dom?"

A wolf whistle went round the group, and Alice raised her eyebrows suggestively at me.

My own crinkled in confusion as Scorpius asked, "What does that mean?"

"Dominique…" Tory started. "My lovely little sister Dominique… found herself a lovely lover boy to gallivant off with."

"She… she _what_?" I exclaimed, leaning forward. "Who? When? Where is she?"

"We've hardly seen her all summer," Lily pointed out. "She's been off mountain climbing, and cycling, and seeing all those films you never get round to watching all summer."

"Sounds like fun," I commented. Then I noticed James, Teddy and Lucy exchange a look. "What? What's going on?"

"She… has a muggle boyfriend."

Scorpius and I, proving just how much time we've been spending together, gave gasps of mock horror at the exact same time.

"Oh no, a _muggle_…" I rolled my eyes in a teasing way.

"The shame," Scorpius joked.

My cousins laughed, but Lucy told me seriously, "They're really close, really serious, but… he still… he loves her, it's so obvious, and they're so happy together… I mean, Dom's finally started watching rom-coms for Merlin's sake… but… er-"

"He doesn't know she's a witch, does he?" I asked as realisation dawned on me.

"Nope."

"Not in the slightest."

"Completely clueless."

I sighed at the dilemma as Scorpius began laughing at the poor guys obliviousness to the situation.

"At the risk of sounding like I have an IQ of 180... Statistically, muggles are more likely to stay with their magical partner if they're been together for a long enough period of time that their relationship is serious, but not too long that they'd feel completely betrayed, and if they're told calmly and openly about the magic world rather than if they find out on their own by some accident or… or, what?"

They were all looking at me like I _did_ have an IQ of 180 and I was crazy.

"Where did that come from?" Roxanne asked, aghast.

"I… erm, I had a lot of time to read in Bulgaria."

"More than you did _before_?" Al asked as if it was impossible.

"Well I didn't have anything else to do, apart from work. Scor worked long hours, and when he _did_ get in early enough we'd usually just…"

My sentence trailed off as I realised I did _not_ want to finish it in front of my family.

Fred, James, Roxanne and Tory - the ones with the dirty minds - looked like they were going to comment, but Scorpius interrupted them.

"Watch a movie," he coughed.

"Yep, see… exactly."

I turned to Tory, to distract attention from me, but she was smirking with an eyebrow raised.

"So… _Tory_, have you picked any names yet?"

"We have A-"

"Not now, Ted," Tory interrupted her husband. "I'm trying to make Rose wither under my gaze."

I rolled my eyes. "_'A'_ sounds like a wonderful name, Teddy," I joked.

"Oh yeah, it is," He continued the ruse. "And if not, our back-up's _'B'_, _'C'_, etc…"

"Mmm," I nodded in pretended seriousness, "That completely makes sense."

"Full proof plan," Scorpius agreed.

Finally Tory rolled her eyes, pulled her gaze away from staring at me until I was uncomfortable enough to crack, and put an end to the absurd conversation. "We are not calling any children we have by letter of the alphabet, Teddy."

He pretended to sulk.

"And if we did," Tory continued. "They'd be in French - it sounds so much more sophisticated."

We all laughed, and then the parents interrupted as they exited the back door and made their way over, levitating platefuls of food each and placing them on the tables.

I got off Scorpius' lap and he took his feet off my chair so I could sit on it as we all took our places around the table, small conversations branching off as the loud chatter filled the atmosphere.

The food was amazing, as expected, and it was wonderful spending an evening with my family.

Scorpius and my mum spent a good hour talking about a variety of things, from S.P.E.W, to his job, to where we were living, to the culture in Bulgaria. It was heart-warming to see them getting along so well, and even more so when my dad began teasing him with the dessert, pretending to drop the custard pies all over him and bantering about how bad his favourite Quidditch Team was.

At some point between desserts (yes, there were three), Scorpius, my father and my brother had wandered in to the house to get fireworks, and hadn't come out for a good fifteen minutes. I'd prayed they weren't killing him, or tying him up to the fireworks once I'd realised they'd been gone for a long while. But no sooner had I began to worry, they'd come sauntering back into the garden, complaining that Hugo had forgotten where his _'safe place'_ for hiding them from Fred and James was, and they'd had to tear apart the whole house looking for them.

Slowly, the sun set, the food had been cleared away and somebody had thought to put some music on.

Half my family were leaning over a game of Wizards Chess in the middle of the tables, my dad and granddad in fierce competition with each other. The rest were chatting quietly in small groups, reading magazines, and just generally lounging around the back garden.

I slumped in my chair, staring up at the starry sky, taking in the scene. I loved the stars, but I'd never full understood Hugo's love of them until now - they were so serene, so beautiful, and the thought that the light you were gazing at had actually been in space millions of years ago just made me feel so… alive.

I couldn't help a slow smile spread across my face.

And then Scorpius' face appeared above mine, glancing down at me with an amused expression.

My smile turned into a beam.

"Why, hello there Mr Malfoy."

"Mrs Malfoy," He teased back, standing up straight again as I sat up. "May I have this dance?"

He offered me his hand, which I gladly accepted and, taking a few steps into the clearing of grass between the table and the house, we began swaying on the spot, as if we were slow dancing, to the strange techno-music coming out of Al's iPod. The rest of my family members hardly paid us any attention, everyone was busy doing their own thing, in their own conversations.

After a few moments of swaying in the breeze with him, I let out a muffled chuckle.

"What is it?" He asked quietly, resting his chin on the top of my head, his arms encircling me protectively.

"What in the world are we dancing to?" I whispered back.

His quiet laughter reverberated through me. "Merlin knows."

I sighed contently, tilting my face up to look into his eyes. The same messy hair that had been there earlier, the same cheeky grin, the same Scorpius.

"What?" He questioned me after a few minutes, evidently giving up trying to avoid wondering what my staring was all about. "Seriously, what?"

"You look beautiful," I told him.

He glanced down at me. "Cheesy."

I grinned. "I know, but… you started it."

"I did?" He feigned confusion. "I called someone beautiful, did I? Actually… now you mention it… I _do_ remember whispering something to Al earlier when I enjoyed our man hug."

I giggled at that, wrapping my arms tighter around his neck as another gust of winter wind swept past us, bringing with it the sound of cheers from those supporting my father in his chess game.

"I love you, you know that?"

"Mmm, but I wouldn't mind hearing you say it again."

"I love you."

"And again?" He teased.

"Scor!" I laughed, glancing up at him. "Earn it."

He gave me the most curious look for a couple of seconds, and I suddenly felt nervous. The butterflies started fluttering in my stomach, which was absurd, because we were already engaged, technically - even if we hadn't made any plans or mentioned it past teasing Mr and Mrs titles - what else could he possible do make my heart flutter?

He stopped swaying, and detached himself from me, just enough to give us space to be standing apart, and then he sank to his knee, right in the middle of my grandparents back garden at The Burrow, right in the middle of the space where my family were (correction: had been) preoccupied, and pulled out an engagement ring.

A _proper_ engagement ring.

Not his family heirloom - as much as that meant to me - but a traditional diamond ring in a silk box.

I think my heart stopped.

This was _way_ more real than a promise made in my homely dormitory back at Hogwarts, than the familiar ring I'd taken from him to play with when I was bored during slow evenings at Hogwarts. This was a _ring_. _My_ ring.

A promise of _now_, not some time _later._

I was dimly aware that the noise from the Chess game had stopped, of the fact that three familiar faces were thrust up against the glass back door of the house, that every member of my entire family was probably looking at us, watching us. I hated public proposals, at least I thought I had, but now I understood them: it was still intimate, still our moment, because I'd blocked the rest of them out, only looking at the face of my ridiculously embarrassing fiancé - soon to be twice over.

"Oh… my…" I managed to whisper.

"I know we said _soon_," He began slowly, his eyes twinkling in the moonlight as he looked up at me through his fringe, "and _in the future_, even if that meant two years, or ten years, or twenty… and I know I've already asked, and you already agreed, but I wanted it to be… an engagement, a marriage, not just a promise, Rose. I wanted to ask you in a way that meant you were listening to me when I asked…"

"W-" I tried again, but my throat was too dry. _This time_… this time it _felt_ like a proposal, like I was committing to forever. Don't get me wrong, I knew how serious I was last time, but that was a promise for later on in life… this was a promise for _now_.

"I… don't mind if you say no…"

I let out something that sounded halfway between a sob and a chuckle.

"I just… wanted to ask. Properly. To say your dad was a bit perplexed when I asked him if I could marry you earlier would be an understatement… I think his exact words were "_Eh?_"…"

I chuckled again, my hands coming up to rest on my frantically beating heart, but my eyes never leaving his, even as part of my brain registered that my dad must have known he was going to do this, but hadn't told me.

Great, now they were ganging up on me.

"Anyway," Scorpius' soft, happy sigh brought me back to his face. "I don't know if you remember the first thing I ever said to you?" He chuckled at the memory, but it had faded from my mind. He elaborated anyway. "It was first year, about two minutes after the Hogwarts Express had left the station, we hadn't even got out of London, and you tripped, and fell into me, and I caught you. I said… I told you: "I've got you"." He chuckled again, softly, a slow smile spreading out across his face as he looked up at me. "And I mean it. It may be cheesy to say it, and clichéd, but I meant it then, and I mean it now - albeit in a different way. I've got you, if you let me? If you'll marry me?"

He blinked up at me for a moment, and I swallowed, trying to fix my head around this. If I agreed we'd be… getting married. Present tense. There wouldn't be anything deferred about it. Now. Current. Present.

"Your knee is getting muddy," I finally managed to whisper.

His eyebrows crinkled in confusion for a moment, and then I grinned at him.

"I-"

"Yes. Of course I'll marry you, you mess," I sniffed. "I'll marry you tomorrow if you want me to."

Before I could properly explore that grin on his face, he'd risen, placing the new ring on my finger with the family heirloom, and then he was kissing me, and I was kissing him back, and I felt like I should be in a frickin' movie or something.

My family started moving, started talking, started crying, a few of them I think. Who could really blame them? _This_ proposal they'd seen, and now it was _real._ As teenagers in that little compartment on the Hogwarts Express telling them we were going to get married, it wasn't completely comprehensible, but witnessing a proposal… that was real, all right.

Scorpius kissed me a few more times, short, quick, just because, and then he rested his forehead on mine, breathing, "I love you."

"Okay," I sighed happily, that teasing tone creeping back into my voice. "You earned it - I love you too."

"Oh, _Rosie_!" My Nana Molly exclaimed suddenly, bringing our attention back to my family. And then, they were there. All of them. Loud, opinionated, chaotic, happy. "Another Weasley to the family!"

"Malfoy," I stated firmly. Scorpius gave me a surprised look, and that was when I realised he'd been serious eight months ago - he would have taken my name if I wanted him to, or if my family wanted him to.

But I wanted to take his name. Our families were reconciling, and the world would be damned if I wasn't going to make it obvious. And what more obvious way would there be than to have a ginger Malfoy?

Scorpius' protective arms wrapped around my shoulders as my family pressed in on us, acting as if we hadn't been going this way before, offering congratulations on the engagement they now _knew_ was happening and - dare I say it - actually _believed, _this time.

Sometime through the crazy haze of it all, I glanced up at him, at the strange, messy blond haired boy who I'd taken delight in hurling abuse and painful curses at for the past seven years.

"I love you," I told him.

"I love you too," He said.

* * *

><p><strong>Cheesy? Yes. Fluffy? Yes. ScoRose? Yes.<strong>

**I hoped you liked all those above mentioned things, because I can't bring myself to change this now.**

**What did you think? *bites lips nervously* Seriously, the epilogue could have been _anything_, so I really want to know what you were expecting (you never know, it could give me an idea for another fic/a sequel?) and what you thought of this?**

**One last review, for old time's sake? :D**

**THANK YOU ALL SO VERY MUCHLY.** **Without you reading, I wouldn't write. And I love to write, so thank you, thank you, thank you.**

**Loveeeee, Kerry. x**


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